Punjab polls put off to Feb 20

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday postponed the polling for the Punjab Assembly elections from February 14 to 20 following requests by Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and political parties to defer the elections as many devotees would be in Varanasi to celebrate Guru Ravidas' birth anniversary on February 16 and miss out on voting.

The date of notification will be issued on January 25, and the State would go to polls on February 20. The counting of votes will be done on March 10. In a letter to the CEC, Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma said, "The state has substantial population of followers of Guru Ravidas ji, including the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which is about 32 per cent of the population of Punjab."