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Karnataka BJP unit today asked the Election Commission to postpone the April 17 Lok Sabha poll in the state in view of a series of holidays which may hit voting percentage. The BJP has sought postponment of the poll from April 17 to April 22 or April 23, state BJP leader Suresh Kumar told reporters here after the party submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Election Commission, to state Chief Electoral officer Anil Kumar Jha.
“This (postponement) will increase the voting percentage in the state,” he said. Kumar said the very purpose of EC to attract many people to the polling booths gets defeated if the election was conducted on April 17, as the next three days are followed by holidays in view of Good Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Added to this, April 14 was Ambedkar Jayanti and if two more days leave is applied for (by employees on April 15 and 16), totally eight days holidays will be in effect,” Kumar explained.
The series of holidays in the poll week may encourage employees and others to hit holiday destinations forcing them to abstain from voting, Kumar argued. Since Karnataka has the highest number of IT and BT population who work five days a week, the BJP fears that the voting percentage may take a hit, Kumar said.
Responding to BJP's appeal for shifting the poll date in Karnataka, the chief electoral officer, Anil Kumar Jha said, "We have received the request from BJP and Arch Bishop for a change in poll schedule. We will forward their request to the Election Commission."
Talking to reporters, he said till March 9, 2014 the Commission has received 600,000 fresh applications for inclusion in the Voters' List after reviewing the voters' list on January 31, 2014. This includes 300,000 applications filed on March 9, 2014 during the special camp.
In Bangalore alone, the commission has received 79,000 fresh applications. Information from four other districts is still awaited, he said adding that there is still one week's time to enroll and the public should make use of the opportunity.
The election commission will scrutinise these applications and take measures to include the new names in the voters' list. Arrangement has been made to issue electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) to the public at Bangalore One centres also.
Among the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, Udupi Chikmagalur constituency has the lowest number of voters at 13,51,245. Of this, 6,61,364 are male and 6,89,832 are female voters. Bangalore North has the highest number of voters at 22,28,847, of which, 11,66,810 are male voters and 10,61,746 are female voters, Jha said.
He said the Commission has organised a training programme for electoral officers on Tuesday.
Responding to a question, Jha said there is no shortage of electronic voting machines in the state. The technicians are checking the EVMs in districts and 50 per cent of the work has been completed till now. The entire work will be completed in a week's time, he added.
