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Himachal Pradesh general elections will take place on 4 November 2012 and Gujarat's first phase general elections to be held on 13 December 2012 and second phase on 20 December 2012.

EC announces General Elections dates for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh

04-Oct-2012, 03:21

The Election Commission (EC) of India has issued the schedule for the general elections to the legislative assemblies of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The term of the legislative assemblies of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will normally expire on 17 January 2013 and 10 January 2013, respectively, according to a statement released by EC. As per the established practice, the Election Commission holds the General Elections to the legislative assemblies of the states whose terms expire around the same time, together. Therefore, the commission is required to hold elections to constitute the new Legislative Assemblies in the said States of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh before expiry of their present terms.

As per the schedule released by the Commission, the notification for the Himachal Pradesh general elections will be issued on 10 October 2012 and the polling will take place on 4 November 2012. Gujarat general elections will be held in two phases. The notifications for the first phase of elections will be issued on 17 November 2012 and for the second phase on 23 November 2012. First phase polling (87 ACs) will be held on 13 December 2012 and the second phase (95 ACs) on 17 December 2012. Counting of votes for both the states will be done on 24 December 2012.

The total number of assembly constituencies in the states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are 182 and 68, respectively. More than 3.78 crore electors are eligible to vote in the state of Gujarat, while Himachal Pradesh has an electoral roll of 45.16 lakh. The poll in the two states will be conducted at all the polling stations using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The elections will take place in 44493 polling stations in Gujarat and 7252 polling stations in Himachal Pradesh.

The Commission has prepared the Schedules for holding General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh after taking into consideration all relevant aspects, like the Climatic conditions, Academic Calendars, Festivals, prevailing law and order situation in the States, availability of Central Police Forces, time needed for movement, transportation and timely deployment of forces, and assessment of other ground realities.