Kozhikode: Prominent Muslim organisations, including the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), have decided to move the Election Commission seeking to change the Lok Sabha polling dates in Kerala and Tamil Nadu that fall on Friday.
For Tamil Nadu, the election will be held on April 19 and in Kerala, it is on April 26. Both dates fall on a Friday.
In a statement issued here, the organisations said that if the dates are not changed, then Muslims would not be able to fully participate in the world's largest democratic elections. "This is discriminatory and a violation of (their) constitutional rights. This includes Kerala, which has about 30% of its population as Muslims. Thousands of believers on election duty as officials and booth agents will not be able to participate in Jumu'ah (Friday prayers)," it said.
P M A Salam, state general secretary of IUML, said Fridays are an important day for the Muslims who gather in mosques for prayer. "The announcement of polling on Friday will cause inconvenience to voters, candidates, polling agents, and officials assigned to election duty. We will move the ECI," he told PTI. The IUML is the major ally of the Opposition Congress party in the UDF.
The signatories to the statement said that the Election Commission should be ready to change it to another date, and demanded the Kerala government to officially request the Central Election Commissioner about this. They have also called on secular parties to put pressure on the state.
The statement was signed by IUML Kerala state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama president Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal, All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama general secretary Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, KNM president T P Abdulla Koya Madani and Kerala amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind P Mujeeb Rahman, among others.
