Gujarat polls before Himachal results are out: Election Commission

The Election Commission said today that it will hold the Gujarat assembly elections before the results for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls were out.

Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti told ANI that the poll body would plan the election schedule in Gujarat in such a way that the "the outcome of the result should not affect the voting in Gujarat."

The chief election commissioner was quoted as saying by a media outlet that elections in Gujarat would likely be called in the next two days since major relief work after the July floods had been completed.

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He also told ANIthat multiple factors, including the weather, were considered before deciding to hold the elections in Himachal Pradesh earlier than Gujarat.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Joti said political parties and the state administration in Himachal Pradesh had requested the election commission to organise the polls before mid-November as there was probability of snowfall in three districts of the hill state.

"Another main reason is that Himachal and Gujarat are not adjoining states. If multiple states go for polls, they are adjoining states. The EC has always made sure that the voting pattern of one state does not affect the voting pattern of another state, and that is why the counting period in Himachal Pradesh has been kept on 18th December 2017. We had stated that we would plan the election schedule in Gujarat in such a way that polling in Gujarat is over prior to Himachal Pradesh Assembly election result, so that the outcome of the result should not affect the voting in Gujarat," the chief election commissioner said.

He also said that it was necessary for the floods-affected state to undergo restoration before elections could be organised in view of the loss of lives and damage to the infrastructure.

The chief election commissioner said that the government staff which would carry out the restoration work was the one who would carry out election-related work. And that once the announcement for the polls was made, the government employees will have to leave the restoration work and perform election-related duties.

"And at a time when restoration work is done, it involves a lot of government force. A total of 26443 employees of the state government will be given election duties. So the staff, which manages the restoration work will only be assigned the election duties as we don't supply staff," he said.

In July, parts of Gujarat were ravaged by incessant rains and floods that claimed more than 200 lives.

The poll body had announced the election dates for Himachal Pradesh earlier this month. For Gujarat, it had said that election would be over by December 18.

The Opposition had cried foul, stating that since 1998 elections in the two states had been held simultaneously with the exception of 2002 when the communal riots took place.

Congress leader P Chidambaram had alleged that the dates would be announced once the ruling BJP government in Gujarat had "announced all concessions and freebies"

The senior Congress leader wrote in a Twitter post, that the poll body "has authorised PM to announce date of Gujarat elections at his last rally."

PM Modi has visited Gujarat thrice in the last one month. He has inaugurated a slew of infrastructure projects -- and a bullet train -- in the course of these visits.

The prime minister inaugurated a number of projects in Bhavnagar and Vadodrayesterday, the highlight being a ferry service from Ghogha in Bhavnagar district to Dahej in Bharuch.