New Delhi, Nov 3: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the Gujarat assembly election schedule on Thursday, weeks after it announced polls to the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh House will be held on November 12.
The Gujarat assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and and 5, while the counting of votes will be conducted on December 8.
The term of the 182-member Gujarat assembly ends on February 18, 2023.
Key points
> In Gujarat, as per the electoral roll published on October 10, over 4.9 crore electors are registered, out of which 4.04 lakh are PwD electors; over 9.8 lakh 80-plus senior citizens and 4.61 lakh first-time voters.
> Now, youngsters get four chances in a year to enrol as a voter instead of a single qualifying date.
> For enhanced voting experience, 1,274 polling stations will be completely managed by women polling and security staff. For the first time, to motivate young voters, 33 polling stations will be set up and managed by the youngest available polling staff.
> ECI's special emphasis on the participation of the third-gender voters in the election process. Special camps organised in each district to facilitate enrolment. In Gujarat, the number of registered third-gender voters in 2022 doubled in comparison to 2017.
> In 2017, the elections for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were announced on different dates but the counting took place together on December 18.
> Floods in Gujarat had led the panel to hold polls in the state after the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced.
> Citing the convention followed in 2017, the election commission had not announced the Gujarat election schedule when it came out with Himachal Pradesh poll dates last month.
> In Himachal Pradesh, the voting will be held in a single phase on November 12, while the counting of votes will take place on December 8.
> Opposition parties questioned the rationale behind ECI’s move of not announcing elections in Gujarat along with Himachal Pradesh on October 15. They alleged it was done to help the ruling BJP announce more pre-election sops.
> Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said no rules were violated in not announcing poll dates for Gujarat along with Himachal. “There is a gap of 40 days between the end of the assemblies of the two states [Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat]. According to the rules, it should be at least 30 days so that one result does not impact the other,” Kumar said at the media briefing to announce the elections for Himachal. The BJP is in power in both states.
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