Gujarat Assembly elections to be held in 2 phases on 1 & 5 Dec

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held on 1 and 5 December 2022. The election will be held in two phases and results will be declared on 8 December.

Of the total 182 Assembly seats, 89 will go to polls in the first phase and 93 in the second.

Gujarat has 4.9 crore voters. There are 3,24,422 voters who will be eligible for voting as they will turn 18 years old. These voters have enrolled for voting according to the new modifications carried out as they turn 18 years old between January and 1 October 2022.

There are 4.6 lakh first-time voters, 9,87,999 senior citizens, and 1,417 third-gender voters.

Polling stations in Gujarat

For the Assembly elections, 51,000 polling stations will be set up, of which 34,000 will be in rural areas. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, "We are going to have an additional special observer for accessibility and improvement at the polling stations. This is being done for inclusivity as we want inputs on the voting experience of women, third gender, and senior citizens."

High-stake election before general elections

The fight is between three parties—Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party. BJP has been in power in Gujarat for the last 27 years with a vote share of 49.05% and the Congress has a vote share of 41.44%.

Model Code of Conduct in effect

The announcement of the schedule has brought into effect the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the state. The ECI said there have been elaborate arrangements made for the effective implementation of MCC in the state.

Morbi bridge collapse

Those who lost their lives in the Morbi bridge collapse were condoled before the start of the meeting. There was a delay in the announcement of polling dates due to the bridge collapse.