The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to extend the time given to voters to exercise their franchise.Voters will now get an extra hour to cast their ballot during the upcoming lok Sabha elections. Polling will now begin at 7 am instead of 8 am.
The Delhi Electoral Office had earlier sent a recommendation seeking extension of timing from 7 am to 6 pm.The ECI has asked States to send recommendations on the timing on the polling day after several States have demanded that voters should be given more time.
Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said the ECI had agreed to extend the timing by an hour. “A formal notification to this effect will be issued by the ECI soon. The new poll timing would be from 7 am to 5 pm during the lok Sabha polls in Delhi. At present, the polling time is between 8 am to 5 pm,” Dev said.