The schedule for the much anticipated Gujarat elections was announced on Thursday. At a press conference convened by the Election Commission, the poll panel said that elections to the 182-member state assembly will take place over two phases on December 1 and 5. The term of Gujarat assembly ends on February 18 next year.
The poll panel had last month announced the single-phase polling in Himachal Pradesh, without mentioning the dates for Gujarat elections. This is the third time since 1998 that the announcement of Gujarat Assembly elections has been de-linked from that of Himachal Pradesh.
Polls were conducted simultaneously in both the states in 1998, 2007 and 2012, but were held separately in 2002-03, after the Gujarat Assembly was prematurely dissolved soon after the Godhra riots.
In 2017, the EC decided to separate the two to avoid imposing the Model Code of Conduct for an unreasonably long time. The poll panel used a similar line this year as well to justify the delinking.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had told reporters that since the terms of the two Assemblies were expiring 40 days apart, the Commission decided to follow the example set in 2017.
The EC normally holds elections together in states where incumbent governments are completing their five-year terms within six months, and announces the poll dates for these states simultaneously.
The Bharatiya Janata Party faces a three-cornered battle in Gujarat this time, after nearly 25 years in power. As the election campaign is gaining pace, the BJP-led state government and the Centre have been offering sops, while the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to replicate its successful Punjab formula in Gujarat.
Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had recently announced that their CM face will be decided after conducting an opinion poll in the western state. The party urged the people to contact them through SMS, WhatsApp, voice mail and e-mail to share their views on who should be the CM candidate from the party.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visits, announced several mega projects for the state. From defence expo to the Air Force transport carrier project in Vadodara, the BJP is upping its campaign in the state.
The Congress, which is seen the main opposition party in the state in recent times, is trying to build momentum with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot campaigning in Vadodara. New Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge also visited the poll-bound state to chalk out the election strategy with state leaders.
The Congress has termed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) the “B-team of the BJP” and asserted that the fight is between the BJP and it in the Gujarat assembly polls.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged from an RSS-backed movement in 2012.
India Against Corruption was a front organisation of the RSS and the AAP emerged from that,” he alleged. The manner in which AAP leaders have been campaigning, it has become absolutely clear through the issues they have been raising and the way they have been raising them that there is no difference from the BJP, Ramesh further alleged.
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