Gujarat assembly polls will be held in two phases, with voting on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday. The votes will be counted on December 8.
The poll body was expected to announce the dates last month, along with the poll dates for Himachal Pradesh. But the EC postponed it, citing the convention followed in 2017 when the polls in the two states were announced on different dates but the counting took place together.
The much awaited polls are seeing a three-cornered contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The BJP, which has ruled Gujarat for over 25 years, this time is facing stiff resistance from the AAP. Besides principle opposition party Congress. Pitching his party as a key challenger to the BJP, Kejriwal had appealed to the state’s voters to give the AAP a chance.
There are over 4.9 crore electors eligible to vote this year. Over 51,000 polling stations have been earmarked for the Gujarat assembly polls, including more than 34,000 in rural areas, CEC Rajiv Kumar said on Thursday. The term of the 182-member state Assembly ends on February 18, 2023.
