The Election Commission of India (ECI) declared the poll dates for the 18th Lok Sabha elections. According to the schedule, in Tamil Nadu the polls will be held on April 19 and in Kerala on April 26. Both dates fall on Friday.
Friday is a mass-prayer day for Muslims. Poll on this day will cause inconvenience to voters, candidates, polling agents and officials assigned to election duty as Friday is an important day for Muslims.
I, therefore, appeal to ECI to change the polling date.
I also appeal to other Muslim organizations to take up this matter unitedly with ECI. The sooner, the better.
Farooq Abdulgafar Bawani
Rajkot, Gujarat, India
Answer Doubts on Electoral Bonds
Considering all the drama over the disclosure of the electoral bonds and who got what, the big question is what will happen to all the funds the political parties collected via the now-defunct scheme? Allegations have been made that many companies donated big money to escape potential raids by the central enforcement agencies. Charges have even been made that smaller companies linked with big corporates have purchased the bonds. This and many other questions pertaining to the electoral bonds will have to be answered so that the doubts of the public can be put to rest.
Shivaji Rao, Rajrajeshwari Nagar
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Reassure Minorities
The Central Government has announced the rules for implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which has led to widespread anxiety that it would adversely affect a section of the minorities who have been excluded from its purview. This is not surprising, considering the track record of the government in treating minorities in a biased manner and even adopting ‘bulldozer’ methods to force them into submission.
Every effort should be made by those in power to instil confidence in the minorities who constitute a huge chunk of the Indian population and have played an important role in fostering development like any other community.
Rasheed Khan
Kolkata, West Bengal
Congress President Says It’s Last Chance to Save Democracy and Constitution
The Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has termed the upcoming Parliamentary election as the “last chance” to save democracy and the Constitution. He said the people of the country would together fight against loot, hatred, unemployment and price rise.
“The 2024 Lok Sabha will open the ‘door of Nyay’ for India. This would be perhaps the last chance to democracy and our constitution from dictatorship,” Mr. Kharge said.
Meanwhile, the Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that the BJP had reduced the constitutional status of the Election Commission and noted that the Congress gave a dissenting note on the appointment of the election commissioners. He added that these “milestone” elections are happening under “a cloud of scams” of electoral bonds, jailing, suspension and raiding of Opposition parties and politicians and freezing of funds of the primary national Opposition party, which is “unprecedented”.
Chowdhry Nisar Ahmed
Noorullah pet, Ambur (T.N.)
Attack on Foreign Students
It was really disheartening to read about how students hailing from different countries were attacked in a Gujarat university hostel for offering namaz. Don’t these students have the right to follow their religious practices? What happened to our much-acclaimed principle of “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” which preaches universal brotherhood and bias to none? What kind of impression would these students carry to their home countries when they leave after completing their studies? Strict actions should be taken against the miscreants to send out a stern warning.
Govinda Gowda
Hyderabad, Telangana