Team Herald
PANJIM: The political parties have urged Election Commission of India (ECI) to take into consideration the upcoming festive season of Christmas and New Year, before declaring the 2022 poll dates, which will also bring into force the model code of conduct. The opposition parties have also sought intervention of the election panel into massive job recruitments underway in the government departments, ahead of polls.
With festivities approaching and ECI teams’ pending visits to poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand to review preparedness for Assembly elections, the code is expected to come into force only after January 10, next year.
As per the ECI schedule, the term of the existing Goa government ends on March 15, 2022 and as such, the new government has to sworn in before that.
The high level panel of ECI comprising of Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey on Tuesday held one-to-one interaction with representatives of political parties- BJP, Congress, Goa Forward Party, MGP, Nationalist Congress party and TMC.
Emerging from the meeting, BJP State president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that party has requested to consider Christmas and New Year celebration before declaring the poll dates. He said that the party has also recommended that the poll date should not coincide with public holidays or any festive days to ensure maximum participation.
