Palakkad byelection: Kalpathy welcomes poll date postponement to November 20

Tamil Brahmin organisations and major political parties on Monday welcomed the Election Commission of India’s decision to postpone the byelection in the Palakkad Assembly constituency from November 13 to 20.

The polling was put off to November 20 in view of the Kalpathy Rathotsavam taking place from November 6 to 16. The chariots of the four temples involved in the conduct of the Rathotsavam will start rolling from November 13.

The festival organising committee, in a statement here on Monday, said that the postponement of the byelection would help not only the smooth conduct of the festival, but also the effective conduct of the polling.

V.K. Sujit Kumar Varma, K.S. Krishna, C.S. Mahesh Krishnan, and C.V. Murali Ramanathan welcomed the change of date on behalf of Sree Visalakshi Sameta Sree Viswanatha Swami Temple, Kalpathy; Manthakkara Sree Mahaganapathy Temple, New Kalpathy; Sree Lakshminarayana Perumal Temple, Old Kalpathy; and Sree Parasanna Mahaganapathy Temple, Chathapuram, respectively.

Former Kerala Brahmana Sabha president Karimpuzha Raman, while welcoming the change in the date of polling, said that the Election Commission should have made the decision early. “The delayed decision has inconvenienced may coming to attend the Rathotsavam. They have booked the tickets very early. Now that they will have to rebook their tickets after November 20, which is not easy,” said Mr. Raman.

He demanded that the Southern Railway should run a special train on November 21 to Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru considering the change in the election date. Otherwise, there will be a dip in the polling percentage, he said.

United Democratic Front (UDF), Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP too welcomed the postponement of the byelection in Palakkad. The BJP said it was the party’s intervention that led to the postponement of the polling from November 13 to 20.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh expressed dismay at the delayed decision of the ECI.

Published - November 04, 2024 09:12 pm IST