Supreme Court denies plea to shift polling timing during Ramadan

The Supreme court on Monday dismissed a plea for shifting the timings of polling in Ramazan. The plea sought direction to the Election Commission to advance the polling timings to 5.30 AM from the original timing 7 AM for the last and final phase of Lok Sabha elections on 19th May.

The Supreme Court has rejected the plea saying that the notified timing of voting is from 7 AM to 6 PM and voters can cast their vote in the morning also. The decision was taken by the bench of justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna.

"The timings are from 7 am to 6 pm. People can come in the morning to cast their votes. They (EC) will face the logistical problem (if timings are advanced)," the justice's bench told advocate Mohammad Nizamuddin Pasho who filed the petition.

Earlier the Supreme Court had asked to notify "necessary orders" on a representation seeking the advancement in the vote timings to 5 AM from 7 AM for the remaining phases. However, the Election Commission denied the orders. The petition actually asked to extend the polling hours by 2-2.5 hours as the unprecedented heat waves and the Muslim keep fast during their holy month of Ramzan.

Let us tell you that the final phase of General elections voting will be held on 19th May in 59 seats in around 8 states. That includes 13 seats in Punjab and UP, 9 seats in West Bengal, 8 seats in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, 4 in Himachal Pradesh, 3 in Jharkhand and 1 in Chattisgarh.

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