Goa gives ‘clarification’ on paid holidays ahead of polls in Karnataka
Faced with criticism from the opposition and local trade organizations for declaring a “paid holiday” in Goa on May 10 ahead of parliamentary elections in Karnataka, the Pramod Sawant government in Goa clarified on Tuesday that reporting paid holidays during elections in neighboring states was routine. affair.
“The voters of Karnataka state were considered as per section 135-B of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951,” the Goa government said in a statement.
“Section 135-B of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 states that any person employed in a business trade, industrial enterprise or any other institution and entitled to vote in an election to the House of the People or Legislative Assembly of a state, be given a holiday on the day of the poll,” the statement said.
“Karnataka, the neighboring state, has significant voters in Goa state – a request was received from the Office of CEO, Karnataka necessitating the declaration of the paid holiday on the day of the poll and was therefore viewed positively,” added the statement to it.
The Goa government claimed that even the governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka have issued similar paid holiday notices in the past in view of parliamentary elections in Goa.
“It may be reported that during the General Elections for the Legislative Assembly in Goa recently, the Government of Maharashtra and Karnataka had issued similar notices to assist the voters of the respective states to exercise their right to vote in accordance with the RP Act, 1951, said the clarification from the Goa government