LS poll dates clashing with Ramzan, will be tough for people: TMC leader Firhad Hakim
Array
New Delhi, Mar 11: After the Election Commission announced seven-phase polling for Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim said dates for voting are clashing with Ramzan period (May 5-June 4, 2019).
Firhad Hakim said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) doesn't want minorities to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls.
With nearly 31 per cent Muslim voters, election during Ramzan will become a key issue of Bengal politics in the upcoming days.
[LS election 2019 date highlights: EC announces poll schedule, no assembly elections in J&K]
"People will face problems in exercising their voting rights as some poll dates are clashing with Ramzan. Since the Election Commission is a constitutional body, I don't want to comment much into the matter. But they should have considered that people will suffer during Ramzan (in casting votes)," Hakim told news agency ANI.
"EC has announced the poll dates on Ramzan so that minorities are unable to cast their votes. But we aren't worried. People are committed to BJP Hatao, Desh Bachao," Hakim was quoted as saying. West Bengal Congress president Somendra Nath Mitra also said the poll panel should consider the matter.