Himachal Pradesh to have elections on November 12; no dates for Gujarat

The Himachal Pradesh assembly elections will take place on November 12 in a single phase, the Election Commission declared on Friday.

The results of the elections in Himachal will be announced on December 8, 2022, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced during a news conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The dates for the Gujarat assembly elections have not been made public by the commission. Starting on October 17 and running through October 25, nominations may be submitted.

According to the EC, there were more than 55 lakh eligible voters in Himachal, of which 1.86 lakh were first-time voters and 1.22 lakh were 80 years of age or older. There are 7,881 voting places overall, 142 of which are run solely by women, and 37 by people with disabilities.

“The elections have to be free, fair, inclusive and accessible. The voting experience has to be comfortable, hassle-free,” Kumar said.

According to Kumar, a number of variables, including a convention, the discrepancy in qualifying dates, and the weather, were taken into consideration when deciding the dates for the Gujarat elections. The Model Code of Conduct timeframe was cut to 57 days because “we do not want the entire election process to continue for a very lengthy amount of time,” he said.

The Gujarat Assembly’s current term expires on February 18, 2023. There are 62 Congress MLAs and 111 BJP MLAs among the 182 members of the House. On January 8, 2023, the Himachal House’s current term will come to an end. In the House, the BJP has 45 members, while the Congress has 20.

In order to assess election preparations, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey travelled to Gujarat and Himachal in September. They spoke with district election officials, top police personnel, and members of national parties in Gujarat.

As soon as the schedule for the two states is revealed, the model code of conduct will take effect. This is a set of rules put out by the election body for how political parties and candidates should behave during elections, particularly with regard to speeches, Election Day, polling places, portfolios, election manifestos, processions, and general behaviour.

On why the dates for the Gujarat elections were not announced, Kumar said, various factors were considered, including convention, the gap in qualifying dates, and weather. “We do not want entire election process to continue for a very long period; Model code of conduct period reduced to 57 days,” he said.