– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, April 29: Earlier when the seven-phased schedule of parliamentary elections was announced by the Election Commission, some Muslim organisations, especially from Kerala had sought change of date 26th April since it fell on Friday. The reason said was that the Muslim polling officials and parties’ workers will find it difficult to attend the Friday Congregational prayers. The Commission did not oblige. But eventually Friday turned out to be a blessing. The unprecedented turnout of Muslim voters at polling stations is evidence.
Since most of the Muslim business establishments remain closed on Friday, people participated in the voting process comfortably. Even the establishments which are dependent on Muslim labour usually remain closed on Friday. For those employees too, it was a pleasant opportunity to cast their votes along with their families, which was otherwise difficult, since the daily wage earners hardly afford to lose the wages of even a day.
Secondly, Friday sermons at Mosques turned out to be a reminder call and effective motivation for those who had until then not cast their votes. Some people considered it auspicious to vote after attending Friday prayers.
In most of the mosques, in order to facilitate the voters, the sermon was shortened or it was confined only to the Arabic version and the speech in regional language was completely dropped.
