Uttarakhand Assembly elections will be held on February 14, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday, January 8. Polling will be held in a single phase and votes will be counted on March 10. 

The term of the current Uttarakhand Assembly is slated to end on March 23, 2022.

Elections are also being held in four other states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur, and counting for all will be done on March 10.

Assembly elections were last held in Uttarakhand on February 15, 2017, and the results were out on March 11. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 57 seats and became the ruling party in the state. Congress followed second with 11 seats.

This year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also be making its debut in the state, making it a three-pronged contest. 

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Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Thursday that more restrictions will be imposed if required to address the surge in COVID-19 cases in the poll-bound state. 

Political rallies, dharnas and demonstrations have been banned in Uttarakhand till January 16 in view of the rising coronavirus cases, according to an official order, PTI reported.

The government also extended the night curfew by an hour on Wednesday, making it applicable from 10 pm to 5 am.

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“We have all the necessary health infrastructure to deal with rising cases of Covid-19. All healthcare institutions have been asked to prepare for a possible surge. From medicine to oxygen supply, everything is available,” BJP’s Dhami said, according to news agency ANI.

“We do not want to take any risk, and, therefore, are carrying out inspections at airports, buses, educational institutes, as well as other public places. A detailed discussion was held on January 5 about the spike in infections. We will take a decision on further curbs in a day or two,” he added.