THE ELECTION Commission on Friday announced the poll schedule for the upcoming assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh. As per the schedule announced by the EC, the polling for the 68-seat Himachal Pradesh assembly will be held on November 12 while the counting of votes will be held on December 8.

With the announcement of the poll schedule, the Model Code of Conduct for the guidance of political parties and candidates has come into force. Meanwhile, the ECI did not announce the dates of the Gujarat Assembly polls which were also expected to be held by the end of this year.

Himachal Pradesh voted to elect its legislative assembly on November 9, 2017. In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the Congress Party and won 44 seats while Congress secured only 21 seats in 2017.

At present, in Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly, the BJP has 45 MLAs, while Congress has 22 and CPIM has 1 MLA. In percentage terms, the BJP won 48.79 per cent of the total valid votes, followed by the Congress (41.68 per cent) and Independents (6.34 per cent).

There are a total 55,07,261 voters in Himachal Pradesh including 27,80,208 male voters and 27,27,016 female voters, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said. There are 1.86 lakh first-time voters, 1.22 lakh aged 80-plus and 1,184 voters who are above 100 years of age, he added.

Kumar further said that now youngsters get four chances in a year to enrol as a voter. There will be four qualifying dates in a year for eligibility to register as a voter instead of a single qualifying date. He also said social media teams will be set up to keep strict vigil on fake news being spread during elections.

In the upcoming state elections, the AAP is looking to set foot in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. In Gujarat, AAP could not open its account in the previous Assembly elections. After a massive victory in Punjab, the party is looking to spread its wings to other parts of the country. Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is gearing up to challenge the BJP.

Himachal Pradesh Election 2022 Schedule:

Date of Issue of Gazette Notification - 17 Oct

Last Date of Nominations - 25 Oct

Date for Scrutiny of Nominations - 27 Oct

Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures - 29 Oct

Date of Poll - 12 Nov

Date of Counting - 8 Dec