The Assembly polls in Gujarat will held be held in two phases on December 1 and December 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday. The results will be declared on December 8 along with the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.
The term of the 182-member Gujarat Assembly ends on February 18.
The filing of nominations will begin on November 5 for phase 1 and November 10 for phase 2, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference.
In the first phase, elections will be held in 89 Assembly constituencies. The last date for filing nominations is November 14. The last date for candidates to withdraw from the polls is November 17.
In the second phase, polling will be held in 93 seats. Candidates can file their nominations till November 18 and withdraw till November 21.
Over 4.9 crore voters, including 2.3 crore women, can cast their votes at 51,782 polling stations. Of these, webcasting will be done for 25,891 polling stations. There are about 4.61 lakh first-time voters in this election.
Kumar also announced that there will be a special observer to see how accessible and inclusive are the polling stations, which would have sitting areas, ramps for disable citizens, drinking water, among other amenities.
The chief election commissioner also responded to allegations of tampering of EVMs, or Electronic Voting Machines.
“Actions and outcomes speak louder than words,” he said, according to NDTV. “At times, parties critical of the commission have got surprise results in elections. Some have questioned EVMs, but they are silent when they win elections through the same EVMs.”
The poll panel chief said that there was some delay in announcing the schedule for the elections due to the Morbi tragedy. On Sunday evening, a cable bridge in Morbi city had collapsed, resulting in 141 deaths.
Kumar also expressed condolences to the families of the dead on behalf of the poll panel.
As the election dates have been announced, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Gujarat since 2001, is aiming to retain power in the state.
The BJP will be pitted against the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, which is attempting to emerge as a key player in the state after making inroads in the local body polls last year.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 99 seats, seven more than the majority mark. The Congress, which won 77 seats, managed to improve its performance.
This year, the election dates were announced four days after the Morbi tragedy. The glaring lapses that led to the disaster has raised questions on the Bhupendra Patel dispensation but it has shrugged off any involvement in the accident, pinning the blame on the municipal body.
The ruling party, however, still has a wide support base in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
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