Punjab assembly elections 2022 postponed, to be held on February 20: Election Commission

Amid rising requests to push the dates of the Punjab assembly polls 2022, the Election Commission of India has made an important announcement in this regard. The EC has announced that the Punjab elections 2022 have been postponed by six days.

According to the press release issued by the Election Commission, the Punjab assembly elections 2022 will now be conducted from February 20. According to the earlier released schedule, the polls were supposed to be conducted on February 14 in a single phase.

The press note issued by EC states, “After consideration of all facts made available, Election Commission has announced 2022 General Elections to the Legislative Assembly of State of Punjab on 8th January 2022 under which notification for the election is to be issued on 21st January 2022 and poll is to take place on 14th February 2022.”

It further added that in view of the requests made by the political parties in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti falling on February 16, the Punjab assembly polls 2022 will be conducted from February 20, 2022.

The EC has further mentioned the revised schedule of the General Elections to Legislative Assembly of Punjab, which is as follows-

• Date of Notification: 25th January 2022 (Tuesday)
• Last date of Nomination: 1st February 2022 (Tuesday)
• Date of Scrutiny: 2nd February 2022 (Wednesday)
• Date of Withdrawal: 4th February 2022 (Friday)
• Date of Poll: 20th February 2022 (Sunday)

The EC, while announcing the postponement, said, “Commission has received several representations from State Government, Political Parties and other organizations drawing attention regarding the movement of a large number of devotees from Punjab to Varanasi for participation in Sri Guru Ravidas Ji Jayanti celebrations, which is observed on 16th February 2022.”

The EC further noted that a lot of devotees would be travelling to Uttar Pradesh for Guru Ravidas Jayanti, and are likely to miss the polling date of February 14. Thus, the commission decided to push the voting date in Punjab by six days.

Nearly all the political parties contesting the elections in Punjab- Congress, Punjab Lok Congress, BJP, BSP, and SAD (Samyukt)- had urged the Election Commission to postpone the Punjab assembly polls 2022. Punjab CM Charanjit Sigh Channi had also written a letter to the EC in this regard.

The Punjab assembly elections 2022 will now be conducted on February 20, and the counting of the votes will take place on March 10.