Singles fret as EC takes over marriage venues

RAJKOT: Prospective nuptials are a knotty issue here. Thanks to the December 12 elections, the Election Commission (EC) has taken over most community halls for poll-related work, displacing all those who have been planning gala weddings between December 8 and 15.Families of both the grooms and the bridegrooms are not only running from pillar to post to find alternate halls, but are digging deep into their pockets to get a new set of invitation cards printed to carry the name of the new venue.So, will anybody compensate the victims for the stationery expenses?Initially, there was an attempt by the BJP woman morcha wing.The outfit urged the EC to change the polling dates. But for the sake of lok kalyan (read early government formation), the EC observers took possession of the community halls.In all, the municipal corporation has cancelled bookings for 37 weddings, which were to be held in the community halls. The civic body had kept four halls empty for the EC, but as additional forces were coming in, the EC demanded four more halls.A local, Kunal, was to wed on December 9 and had booked the community hall at Kanak Nagar road almost three months in advance. He is a harried man today. ''It is nothing but harassment. We have already printed the marriage invitations. Now it will be another tedious undertaking to find a hall...and if we fail to find an alternate hall, I will have to get married on the street near my house, which will be an embarrassment.''The manager of Valmiki Hall says, ''Usually, 150 to 200 weddings take place during this time every year. This is for the first time that the hall is being used for election duty. Right now, it is very hard for me to say how things will turn out. Let's see who occupies it in the end!''