New Delhi: Assembly polls in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh will be held on 9 November, the Election Commission announced on Thursday, but gave no dates for BJP-governed Gujarat whose Assembly term also ends in January 2018.
The results for the election in Himachal Pradesh will be announced on 18 December.
Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti addressing the press conference in New Delhi. Twitter @ANI
Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti said the filing of nominations will open on 16 October and the last date will be 23 October. Scrutiny will be done the next day and the last for withdrawal of candidates will be 26 October.
Polling will be held on a single day on 9 November and the vote count will be taken up on 18 December after completion of the election process in Gujarat, which the BJP has ruled for almost 20 years.
Joti said the model code of conduct in Himachal Pradesh comes into effect immediately under which the state government cannot take policy decisions. Similarly, the central government cannot announce policy decisions regarding Himachal Pradesh.
The term of the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly ends on 7 January, 2018 and that of the 182-member Gujarat Assembly on 22 January. In Himachal Pradesh Assembly, 17 seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste while three are for people from Scheduled Tribe.
Reporters plied the Chief Election Commissioner with questions about why election dates for Gujarat were not announced on Thursday.
Joti cited some office memorandums issued earlier to justify the delay in the announcement regarding Gujarat, saying the Election Commission had a statutory 21 days to carry out elections that can extend up to 45 days.
He said the election process in Gujarat will be completed before the vote count in Himachal.
"The basic principle is that the voting pattern in one state should not affect the results of another state that goes to polls in a short period. Prior to Himachal results, the voting process will be over in Gujarat," he said.
The Chief Election Commissioner said VVPAT machines will be used in all constituencies in Himachal Pradesh because of which a voter will be able to see to which party, symbol and candidate his vote has gone to.
Published Date: Oct 12, 2017 05:32 pm | Updated Date: Oct 12, 2017 05:32 pm
