Assembly Elections 2022: Himachal Pradesh polls on Nov 12; Gujarat dates to be announced later

All 68 Assembly Constituencies in Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on November 12 in a single phase, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar Election Commission of India says. The CEC cites convention followed in 2017 for not announcing the assembly polls to Gujarat now.

New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh Assembly election 2022 will be held in a single phase and the polling has been scheduled to November 12, said Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, on Friday. Widely expected Gujarat poll dates were not announced by the ECI.

Kumar said the counting of votes for Himachal Pradesh polls will take place on December 8 and elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure maximum participation of voters in the "festival of democracy". Following is the schedule for Himachal Pradesh Assembly election 2022:

• Gazette notification— October 17
• Last date for nominations— October 25
• Date of scrutiny— October 27
• Last date for withdrawal— October 29
• Date of polling— November 12
• Date of Counting— December 8

As for the electorate in Himachal Pradesh, the present roll has over 53.88 lakh voters including about 16.39 lakh new voters will cast their vote in the upcoming Assembly elections according to the final electoral rolls. Out of the total voters, about 27.80 lakh are male and 27.27 lakhs are female.

According to the ECI, the Sulah constituency in the State has the highest number of voters (104486) and the Lahaul and Spiti constituency has the lowest number of voters (24744).

The magic figure in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly is 92. The ruling BJP in the State managed to scrape through and retain power in the 2017 Assembly elections winning 99 seats and Congress put up one of its best performances in recent times in the State by winning 77 seats.

According to the final electoral roll in Gujarat recently released by State Election Commission over 4.90 crore, voters are eligible to cast their votes in the Assembly election. While there are 2.53 crore male voters, the number of female voters stands at 2.37 crore. There are 1417 voters belonging to the third gender according to the final electoral roll.

There are 4.61 lakh voters belonging to the age group of 18 to 19 years out of which 2.68 lakh are male while 1.93 lakh are female. There are over 4 lakh differently-abled voters, as per the list. Ahmedabad district has the highest number voters (59.9 lakh), while the Dangs has the lowest number of (1.93 lakh) as per the district-wise electoral details.

While Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a stronghold of the BJP, Himachal Pradesh, although currently ruled by the saffron party, was ruled by the Congress for several decades. However, AAP is leaving no stone unturned to get a foothold in both states after it stormed to power in Punjab.

What delays Gujarat poll announcement?

The CEC cited convention followed in 2017 for not announcing the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat together and underlined that the model code this time has not been "unnecessarily extended". "The Commission actually goes by the convention in announcing the schedule of elections. It went by the convention last followed," he said while responding to questions related to delay in announcing Gujarat polls.

It is pertinent to note the polls in the two state were announced on different dates but the counting took place together on December 18 in 2017. ECI's data showed that polls in Gujarat and HP were held together at least in 1998, 2007 and 2012 and separately in 1993, 1994 and 2002. Kumar parried the question on whether the counting for Gujarat will be held along with Himachal Pradesh on December 8 akin to the 2017 "convention".

The "convention"

Noting that while following convention, EC in fact "refined" it, Kumar said the model code period has been reduced from 70 days to 57 from 2017 elections and from 81 days to 57 from 2012 elections when the two polls were held together. The wait for results has been reduced by two weeks than the 2017 elections.

"...the preparation and conduct of elections is very detailed exercise and it takes into account various factors, variable factors , consultations with all stakeholders and the factors which are competitive," the CEC said. He said issues such as the impact of result of one election on another are also considered.

In states like Himachal Pradesh, the weather is a very important factor, especially in the upper reaches, he explained. "After examining everything, EC decided to go by the convention which was followed last year ... while we followed the convention, we further refined it so that the MCC period is not unnecessarily extended," Kumar said.

The tenures of the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assemblies will end on January 8, 2023 and February 18, 2023 respectively. In 2017, Himachal Pradesh went to polls on November 9, while Gujarat exercised its franchise in two phases -- December 9 and 14. (with Agency inputs)