The Election Commission postponed the Haryana assembly poll from October 1 to October 5 on Saturday in consideration of the Bishnoi community’s centuries-old celebration.
According to the poll authority, the vote counting for the assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana will now take place on October 8 rather than October 4.
According to the statement, the decision was made to respect the Bishnoi community’s 300–400-year-old customs and voting rights in commemoration of their Guru Jambheshwar.
The national president of All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, Bikaner, Rajasthan, had submitted a request to the EC to reschedule the date of the assembly elections in Haryana.
He claimed that on “amavas,” in the month of “Asoj,” generations of families from Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana travel to their natal town of Mukam in Rajasthan for the yearly celebration in Bikaner honouring Guru Jambheshwar.
Thousands of Bishnoi families from Sirsa, Fatehabad, and Hisar will come to Rajasthan on October 2nd, the day of the festival, in order to deprive them the opportunity to cast a ballot.