Polling day won’t lead to extended weekend
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
NEW DELHI - Killing the holiday spirit for those who take advantage of a polling day falling before or after a weekend and go on extended vacation, the Election Commission is now taking care that election dates don’t fall on a Friday or a Monday.
“In Mumbai, the polling day in one of the elections was on a Friday. Since it’s a declared holiday, people took advantage of that and instead of coming to cast their votes, simply took off on an extended weekend break!” Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi told reporters here.
“Now the schedule is, as it is, so maddening. But we have to now take care that the polling day does not fall on a Friday or a Monday, so that it does not become an extended weekend,” he said amid peals of laughter by everyone around.
West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are scheduled to have assembly elections by May this year.
