Banks to remain closed for 4 days in several cities due to strike, elections

Banks will remain open in Maharashtra and Haryana for only three days this week on account of the Assembly Elections as well as an upcoming bank strike and other bank holidays. On Monday, banks are shut due to the elections and on Tuesday a couple of bank unions have called for a strike to protest against the 10 PSU bank mergers. However, banks will remain closed for rest of the country only on Tuesday and not on Monday.

Today, on October 21, polling is taking place for 90 seats in Haryana and 288 seats in Maharashtra assemblies, coupled with by-polls in 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states. On the day of voting, banks will remain open everywhere except Maharashtra and Haryana, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s issued guidelines. Banks will remain open on Monday in the union territory of Chandigarh, which serves as the capital of both Haryana and Punjab.

To protest against the recently announced 10 PSU bank merger by the government, bank unions namely All India Bank Employees Association (AlBEA) and the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) have called jointly an All India Bank Strike on Tuesday, October 22. Due to this, banking operations could be hit all over the country

As banks are closed on every second and fourth Saturdays of the month, this Saturday will also be a holiday. Sunday is again a weekly holiday, on back of Diwali Festival. Additionally, the RBI has declared a bank holiday in Mumbai keeping in mind celebrations related to Diwali.

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