Bhubaneswar: Weddings put on hold till EC rings poll bell

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the scramble for seats intensifies with the Election Commission of India likely to announce the dates of Lok Sabha and state assembly polls any time soon, prospective brides and grooms have put their wedding plans on hold, at least for the time being.
If that has left you wondering what is the connection between the two, here it goes. They want to avoid a possible clash with the the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.“I am waiting for the ECI to notify the polls so that I can plan accordingly. I wish to avoid the dates before and after elections so that no one from either the bride’s or the groom’s side is inconvenienced in any way,” Bikash Gartia, a bank official from Nuapada district, said.
The respective district administrations generally requisition vehicles to ferry the poll personnel. In such a situation, chances of vehicles hired for marriages failing to honour their commitments would be high. This is the biggest cause of worry for those planning to get married during elections.
In a lower middle-class marriage in rural Odisha as in any other part of the country, at least four to five vehicles, including cars and buses, are used to take people of the groom’s family from one village to another. Similarly, the bride’s family needs to hire as many vehicles to send her off to the groom’s place.
Apart from the shortage of vehicles, the wedding parties may face another problem. “Many of our relatives, who hold government jobs, may be away on poll duty. They would miss the wedding if the election duty coincides with the marriage date,” Naresh Sahu, a native of Bargarh, who is planning to get married this year, said. He added, “We have discussed this with the bride’s family and have kept it on hold till the ECI publishes the poll dates.”
Astrologers said apart from Pausa (December to January), marriages are also not solemnised in the month of Chaitra (March 15 to April 15 this year). “The auspicious time for weddings starts from April 16 and will continue till Bahuda Yatra (return Rath Yatra) of Lord Jagannath (July 12),” Sripati Acharya, an astrologer, said.
The 147-member state assembly goes to the polls simultaneously with Lok Sabha (21 seats in Odisha). The ECI is expected to issue the notification for the forthcoming polls sometime this month. In 2014, polling in Odisha was held in two phases on April 10 and April 17. The poll was notified on March 5.