ECI postpones two youth voter awareness programmes in Uttar Pradesh amid poll panel row

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed two youth-focused voter awareness programmes in Uttar Pradesh that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was scheduled to attend, officials said on Friday.

One of the programmes, a regional conference on Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs), was scheduled to take place in Meerut. The other, an interaction with young voters, was planned in Varanasi on September 28.

The postponement comes amid reports of differences within the poll panel, with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi having raised objections to several decisions of the Commission. The ECI has maintained that its decisions were taken unanimously.

On Thursday, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi called for Kumar's resignation. The Cockroach Janta Party also demanded his resignation and said it would launch a protest if he did not step down within 48 hours.

An ECI official, however, said the postponement was unrelated to the controversy and that the decision had been taken on September 21.

“Adjustments in dates of events is an ongoing process which is necessitated by various factors such as availability of venues, schedules of higher authorities, natural factors,” the official said.

The official also cited previous postponements or rescheduling of ELC conferences in Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Uttarakhand. 

The ELC initiative aims to familiarise school and college students, particularly first-time voters, with the electoral process. The ECI conducts regional conferences under its revamped ELC 2.0 programme and also carries out outreach related to ECINET, its voter services platform.