The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday announced that the Gujarat elections will be held in two phases. The first phase of voting will be held on December 1 and the second on December 5.
Counting will be held on December 8, along with Himachal Pradesh.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced the dates in a press conference along with election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey.
The tenure of the Gujarat Assembly, which began on February 19, 2018, is set to end on February 18, 2023.
The previous elections were held in December 2017, and Vijay Rupani became chief minister as the BJP won the elections. Bhupendra Patel took the post after Rupani resigned in 2021.
The Gujarat assembly has a total of 182 seats. In 2017, the BJP won 99 of the 182 seats, while the Congress won 77. However, this time, aside from the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as a challenger to the incumbent BJP.
The BJP has held power in Gujarat for six consecutive terms, since 1995.
What are the demographics of voters?
The Election Commission announced that there are 4.90 crore voters of whom 2.53 crore are male and 2.37 female. A total of 1,417 are from the third gender.
There would be 51,782 polling stations in the 182 Assembly constituencies across the state.
Over 9.8 lakh 80+ senior citizens and 4.61 lakh first-time voters in Gujarat
Postal ballots
The ECI has set up facilities for option ballot votes for senior citizens who are unable to leave their homes to reach polling stations. Postal ballot options will also be provided to people with disabilities.
The ECI said there will be processes in place to ensure that the secrecy of the vote cast through ballots is maintained.