Tirupur: The Hindu Religious and Endowment Charitable (HR&CE) department has altered the timings of car festival of Avinashi Lingeshwarar temple as it clashes with the Lok Sabha election.The decision was taken at a special consultation meeting held in Avinashi recently.The annual car festival of the temple, which is one of the seven prominent Kongu Lord Siva shrines, would draw thousands of people. It would span for more than a week as it would begin with flag-hoisting and conclude with circumambulation of the century-old temple by two cars – big and small.This year, the administration has scheduled that the ‘big car’ mounted with Avinashiappar deity will be encircling the temple on April 17, and the ‘small car’ mounted with Karunambigaiamman deity will be encircling on April 18, the day of Lok Sabha election.As the festival date was clashing with the election, devotees urged the district administration to intervene in the issue.A special consultation meeting was held to discuss the issue on Monday, and the district administration advised the temple authorities to change the timing of the festival.“Now, we have preponed the encircling event of the big car, from 10.30am to 7am on April 17, and the event will be over by 12pm. In case of the small car, the event is postponed from 10.30am to 5pm on April 18. So that, the devotees can exercise their voting right and then attend the festival,” a HR & CE official said.

Stay updated with all the Coimbatore Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.