Gujarat elections 2022: Polls to be held in two phases in December

The Election Commission of India has announced the polling dates for the Gujarat elections.The polls to 182 seatswill be held in two phases,on December 1 and 5. Counting of votes will take place on December 8. The date of issue of notification for firstphase isNovember 5 and for second phase,November 10.

Voting for 89 seats will be held on December 1 and polls on remaining 93 seats will take place on December 5.BJP had won 99 seats in the last polls, its sixth consecutive victory, while the Congress had bagged 77 seats. Following defections,BJP increased its tally in the House to 111 while the Congress numbers were reduced to 62.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also trying to make its way into Gujarat after a successful foray into Punjab.

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The EC said that over 4.9 crore total electors are eligible to vote for the 182 seats in the Gujarat assembly. Over 51,000 polling stations will be set up across the state for the elections,including more than 34,000 in rural areas,Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said.

We are focussing on urban apathy to improve voter turnout, the EC said. The election body has identified polling booths with least voter percentage in each seat andspecial efforts are being made to improve turnout there, it added.

It informed that this time 1,274 polling stations will be fully managed by women and 182 by those with disabilities. Besides, 33 stations will be run by the youngest available polling staff for the first time to motivate youngsters to vote.

The EC said that the ECI Suvidha Portal will provide online nomination & affidavit facility to candidates and political parties.

Prior to the press briefing, the EC expressed its condolences over the Morbi bridge tragedy in which 135 people lost their lives.

(With inputs from agencies)