The Tamil Nadu Bishops Council, in a letter to the Election Commission, has demanded that the polling dates in the state and Puducherry be changed as it coincides with Maundy Thursday. They said ‘it would not be conducive for the people of the Christian community.’
Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council wrote earlier this week to State Election Commission seeking change in polling date in TN & Puducherry. The letter states that ‘polling date (18th April) coincides with Maundy Thursday & it would not be conducive for the people of Christian community.’
— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2019
In the letter, Rev. Dr Antony Pappusamy, president of the organization, said, “If polling is on Thursday, 18th April, there are two important disturbances for the Christian people — [Firstly,] Christian teachers cannot attend religious services on that day.
Secondly, since many of the polling stations are in schools and most of these schools are located on church campuses, it would be inconvenient for people to come to church and make arrangements for the religious services.”
Earlier, the election dates had triggered concerns from political parties since dates coincided with Ramzan, the Muslim festival. The AAP and TMC had insinuated a BJP conspiracy behind it. They had claimed that fasting Muslims were less likely to cast their votes. However, Muslim leader Asaduddin Owaisi had countered their claims and said that such a controversy was unnecessary.
