New Delhi ∙ The Election Commission has said that the Gujarat assembly elections will be held in two phases this year. The first phase of voting will be held on December 1 and the second phase on December 5. Counting of votes is on December 8. The counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections is also on that day. Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar announced the election date at a press conference held at 12 noon in Delhi. The election is being held amid a huge political controversy after a suspension bridge collapsed in Gujarat’s Morbi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, killing 135 people.
The election is for a total of 182 seats. Absolute majority required 92 seats. In the 2017 election, the BJP won 99 seats and the Congress won 77 seats. Other parties also got six seats. After the elections, some of the Congress members joined the BJP many times and the BJP currently has 111 seats. Congress has 62 seats and others four seats. Five seats are currently vacant.
Even though the BJP has been in power here for almost a quarter of a century, the Morbi suspension bridge disaster that happened just before the elections has put the government on the defensive. The opposition is also active in alleging that corruption and mismanagement led to the accident.
The BJP also faces the challenge posed by the Aam Aadmi Party, which is trying to establish its roots in Gujarat. The Aam Aadmi Party is also eyeing a repeat of its resounding victory in Punjab earlier this year in Gujarat.
This time, the Congress, which put up a smashing performance in the 2017 assembly elections, is also hopeful. Despite the Congress’s best performance in the recent elections, the BJP retained power. The Congress campaign has described Aam Aadmi Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM as BJP’s ‘B Team’.
English Summary: Gujarat Election Dates To Be Announced At Noon Today