A day after the Election Commission notified five phase polls in Jharkhand, two election-related issues have led to protests in the state.

While a number of Muslim organisations have expressed reservations over the EC’s decision to hold the first and last phase of polls on a Friday, the day of prayer (Juma), the BJP has objected to the transfers of some state personnel which it claims were made after the code of conduct came into force.

The first and the last phase of the polls fall on Fridays November 27 and December 18 and Bakr-eid falls a day after the first phase of the poll. “Most of the Muslim electorate will not be able to cast its vote,” said Jharkhand State Haj Committee chairman Hazi Hussain Ansari.

“The polling is to be held between 7 am and 3 pm while the prayer is offered during 12 noon -2 to 3 pm.This is bound to come in the way of going to the polling stations and casting votes,” said Maulana Qutubbuddin Rizwi, secretary Edra E Saria.

A dozen Muslim bodies namely the Qureshi Muslim Panchayat, Central Muharram Committee and Jharkhand Muslim Majlis in their meetings held on Friday demanded a change in the poll schedule.

The state’s Chief Electoral Officer Devashish Gupta, however, denied receiving any complaints on this front.

The second issue relates to the notifications issued by different state government bodies on Friday, the day the polls were announced. These notifications, concerning transfer of 88 state government personnel and the appointment of 1050 personnel, were effected after the model code of conduct came into force, alleges the BJP. “This clearly violates the code. We demand intervention of the EC to book all the officers who were responsible for effecting these notifications with back dates,” BJP’s ex-chief whip C P Singh said.