Elections to Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, while the counting of votes will take place on December 8, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule on Thursday, weeks after it announced polls for the 68th-seat Himachal Pradesh House. In the first phase (1 December) 89 seats will go to the polls and in the second phase (5 December) 91 seats will be covered. The term of the 182-member Gujarat Assembly ends on February 18 next year.
Gujarat Election Schedule Highlights:
• Gujarat has more than 4.9 million registered voters, of which 4.04 million are PWD voters, according to the voter list released on October 10; more than 9.8 million 80 and older seniors and 4.61 million first-time voters. Young people now have four chances a year to register as a voter instead of a single qualifying date.
• For a better voting experience, 1,274 polling stations will be fully manned by female polling and security staff. To motivate young voters, 33 polling stations will be set up for the first time, which will be managed by the youngest polling staff available. ECI’s special emphasis on the participation of voters of the third gender in the electoral process. Special camps organized in each district to facilitate enrollment. In Gujarat, the number of registered third gender voters has doubled in 2022 compared to 2017.
• In 2017, elections for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were announced on different dates, but counting was held together on 18 December. Floods in Gujarat led the panel to hold polls in the state after the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced. Citing the convention that followed in 2017, the Election Commission did not announce the Gujarat election schedule when it came out with the Himachal Pradesh election dates last month.
•In Gujarat, BJP notched up its sixth consecutive victory by winning 99 seats in the latest polls, while Congress put up a spirited fight by winning 77 seats. In percentage terms, the BJP got 49.05 percent of the valid votes, while the Congress got 42.97 percent. The Congress witnessed a series of defections after the assembly elections and the BJP increased its numbers in the House to 111. The Congress numbers were reduced to 62.
•Himachal Pradesh will go to polls in a single phase on November 12, with the counting of votes taking place on December 8. Opposition parties questioned the reason why the ECI did not declare elections in Gujarat along with Himachal Pradesh on October 15. They claimed that this was done to help the ruling BJP declare more pre-election volcanoes.
• Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said no rules were violated when election dates for Gujarat along with Himachal were not announced. “There is a gap of 40 days between the end of the assemblies of the two states [Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat]. As per the rules, it should be at least 30 days so that one result does not affect the other,” Kumar said at a media briefing to announce the Himachal elections. BJP is in power in both the states.
