The Election Commission on Monday rescheduled from November 13 to November 20 the assembly bypolls to all nine and four seats in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, respectively, and one seat in Kerala in view of festivals, an official statement said.
In Kerala, the byelection to the Palakkad assembly seat has been rescheduled, while that in Chelakkara assembly and Wayanad Lok Sabha seats will be held as scheduled earlier on November 13.
Parties including the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Badhujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal had urged the poll body to reschedule the bypolls in view of various festivals, saying that it could impact voter turnout.
According to the Congress, a significant portion of the electorate in the Palakkad assembly seat in Kerala will celebrate the festival of Kalpathi Ratholsavam from November 13 to 15.
In Punjab, the party had said, the 555th Prakash Parv of Sri Guru Nanak Dev will be celebrated on November 15 and an 'akhand path' will be organised from November 13 onwards.
The BJP, the BSP and the RLD had said that in Uttar Pradesh, people travel for three to four days ahead of Kartik Purnima, which will be celebrated on November 15.
As per the earlier schedule announced on October 15, bypolls to the Wayanad parliamentary seat and 47 assembly seats were to be held on November 13 along with phase one elections for the Jharkhand assembly.
Bypolls to the Nanded Lok Sabha seat and the Kedarnath assembly constituency were scheduled for November 20 along with Maharashtra assembly polls and phase two of Jharkhand elections. There is no change in these two bypolls.
The four Punjab assembly seats where bypolls are being held are Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Gidderbaha and Barnala.
The UP assembly seats where bypolls are being held are: Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Karhal, Sishamau, Phulpur, Katehari and Majhawan.
The date of counting for all the byelections will remain unchanged -- November 23 -- when votes will also be counted for Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections.
In the past too, the EC has shifted voting dates for assembly elections and by-elections in various states.
