Editor's Pick: Himachal polls on November 12; Gujarat schedule not announced yet

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced that the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will be held on November 12 and votes will be counted on December 8, while the schedule for the other poll-bound State, Gujarat, has not been announced for now. Last time around as well, the EC had announced the schedules of the two States separately, Himachal Pradesh on October 12, 2017 and Gujarat on October 25, 2017. However, counting of votes in both States was on the same day in December. Asked about the decision not to announce the Gujarat election, given that the EC had visited the State within the same week as it did Himachal in preparation of the elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the EC had “gone by convention” followed last time. He added that the weather in the hill State was also a factor in deciding the election date due to the snowfall in winter. He said there was a “gap of 40 days” between the end of the tenure of the two Assemblies — January 8, 2023 for Himachal Pradesh and February 18, 2023 for Gujarat. That being said, in the last set of Assembly elections announced together this year, the gap between the end of terms had been around 60 days — March 15 for Goa and May 14 for Uttar Pradesh. “The MCC [Model Code of Conduct] period, which gets extended, has been reduced from 70 days to 57 days,” Mr. Kumar said. “Also, if you see against the 2012 election announcement, when it was combined, there is a reduction of 81 days to 57 days. We do not want that the entire election exercise continues for a very long period and that it does not disturb anybody,” Mr. Kumar said. The nomination process for the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will begin with the gazette notification on October 17 and the last date for nominations will be October 25, as per the Election Commission schedule. A total of 55.07 lakh electors, including as many as 1.86 lakh first-time voters and 1.22 lakh electors over the age of 80, would be eligible to cast their votes. Mr. Kumar said the EC had ordered teams to be set up at the district magistrate-level to keep an eye on rumours and fake news spread on social media and take action against the same. The EC also issued revised COVID-19 guidelines for States, stating that political parties and candidates must adhere to the rules prescribed by the competent authority. While Mr. Kumar defended the EC’s decision to announce only the Himachal Pradesh schedule, the Congress questioned the move. Reacting to the announcement, Congress general-secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said: “Obviously this has been done to give more time to the PM to make some mega promises and carry out more inaugurations. Not at all surprising.” Was this newsletter forwarded to you? 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[Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( [Privacy Info]( Himachal polls on November 12; Gujarat schedule not announced yet The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced that the [Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will be held on November 12]( and votes will be counted on December 8, while the schedule for the other poll-bound State, Gujarat, has not been announced for now. Last time around as well, the EC had announced the schedules of the two States separately, Himachal Pradesh on October 12, 2017 and Gujarat on October 25, 2017. However, counting of votes in both States was on the same day in December. Asked about the decision not to announce the Gujarat election, given that the EC had visited the State within the same week as it did Himachal in preparation of the elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the EC had “gone by convention” followed last time. He added that the weather in the hill State was also a factor in deciding the election date due to the snowfall in winter. He said there was a “gap of 40 days” between the end of the tenure of the two Assemblies — January 8, 2023 for Himachal Pradesh and February 18, 2023 for Gujarat. That being said, in the last set of Assembly elections announced together this year, the gap between the end of terms had been around 60 days — March 15 for Goa and May 14 for Uttar Pradesh. “The MCC [Model Code of Conduct] period, which gets extended, has been reduced from 70 days to 57 days,” Mr. Kumar said.  “Also, if you see against the 2012 election announcement, when it was combined, there is a reduction of 81 days to 57 days. We do not want that the entire election exercise continues for a very long period and that it does not disturb anybody,” Mr. Kumar said. The nomination process for the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh Assembly election will begin with the gazette notification on October 17 and the last date for nominations will be October 25, as per the Election Commission schedule. A total of 55.07 lakh electors, including as many as 1.86 lakh first-time voters and 1.22 lakh electors over the age of 80, would be eligible to cast their votes. Mr. Kumar said the EC had ordered teams to be set up at the district magistrate-level to keep an eye on rumours and fake news spread on social media and take action against the same. The EC also issued revised COVID-19 guidelines for States, stating that political parties and candidates must adhere to the rules prescribed by the competent authority. While Mr. Kumar defended the EC’s decision to announce only the Himachal Pradesh schedule, the Congress questioned the move. Reacting to the announcement, Congress general-secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said: “Obviously this has been done to give more time to the PM to make some mega promises and carry out more inaugurations. Not at all surprising.”  Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. 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