The
Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh
on Friday, October 14. Polls in the hill state will take place on November 12
and results will be declared on December 8. While the schedule for Himachal
elections is now fixed, authorities were asked why they did not announce the
dates for the hotly-anticipated Gujarat elections.

The
question was raised because concurrent state elections are usually announced at
the same time and results are declared on a common date. This is done to ensure
that one election does not have an effect on the other.  

Why did
ECI not announce Gujarat poll schedule?

India’s
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar was asked if consecutive
elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, instead of them happening at the
same time, would have an impact on the polls. “There is a gap of 40 days
between the end of the assemblies of two states. According to the rules, it
should be at least 30 days so that one result doesn’t impact the other,” Kumar
said.

Explaining
why the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced first, the CEC said: “There
are a number of factors, like weather. We want to hold the Himachal elections
before the onset of snow.”

Also Read | Himachal Pradesh elections on November 12, results on December 8

He said the
election commission had held discussions with various stakeholders before
arriving at the decision to announce the Himachal poll schedule first.

In 2017,
when elections to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were held around the same time,
the results were declared on the same day.

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Himachal
Pradesh assembly

Himachal
Pradesh will vote for 68 legislators for its state legislature. In the 2017
polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 44 seats in a state where a party
needs 35 to attain majority. The Congress won 21 seats, the CPI(M) one seat and
other smaller players won two.