New Delhi. The Election Commission has changed the dates of by-elections to be held in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab. According to the Election Commission, by-elections for the assembly seats in Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will be held on November 20 instead of November 13. The Election Commission has taken this decision in view of the upcoming festivals. Voting will be held in all these states along with the assembly elections to be held in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The Election Commission said in its order that on October 15 last month, by-elections were announced for 48 assembly constituencies and 2 parliamentary constituencies of 15 states.
Some social organisations, including various recognized national and state political parties (BJP, Congress, BSP, RLD), had sent applications to the Commission to change the date of polling in some assembly constituencies which had by-elections on November 13. It was said that large-scale social, cultural and religious programs being held on that day may cause inconvenience to a large number of people, which may reduce voter participation during voting. Considering these, the Commission has decided to change the date of by-elections on some assembly seats. According to the Election Commission, the assembly seats on which by-elections will be held on November 20 include Palakkad assembly seats of Kerala, Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Gidderbaha and Barnala assembly seats of Punjab.
Apart from this, voting will also be held on 9 seats of UP on November 20, which include Sisamau of Kanpur, Phulpur of Prayagraj, Karhal of Mainpuri, Majhwan of Mirzapur, Milkipur of Ayodhya, Katehri of Ambedkar Nagar, Ghaziabad Sadar, Khair of Aligarh, Kundarki of Moradabad and Meerapur seat of Muzaffarnagar is included. The Election Commission had announced the dates of by-elections to Maharashtra and Jharkhand assemblies as well as across the country in October. By-elections were to be held on November 13 for 48 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats in 15 states. It also includes Nanded and Wayanad Lok Sabha seats. It is known that elections for 288 assembly seats of Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20. Apart from this, voting will be held in two phases for 81 assembly seats of Jharkhand. Voting will be held for the first phase on November 13 and for the second phase on November 20, while the results will be declared on November 23.