ECI postpones Punjab polls to February 20; all political parties welcome the decision

Taking a serious note of the demands of different political parties of Punjab, the Election Commission of India on Monday postponed the Punjab Assembly polls to February 20. The elections were earlier scheduled for February 14.

The new date was announced by the ECI after a meeting to discuss demands to postpone the February 14 assembly polls in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had urged the EC to defer the polls by six days in view of the Jayanti. Similar requests had been made by other parties, including the BJP and BSP to postpone the single-phase poll.

Lakhs of devotees visit Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate the day and parties feel that they would not be able to cast their votes due to this.

The new date for filing and withdrawal of nomination papers are February 1 and February 4, respectively. However, there is no change in the date (March 10) of election results.

The decision of the ECI was welcomed by leaders of all political parties of Punjab. With this, the political parties and their candidates have got six days more to reach out to the voters.