'No rules violated': Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on not announcing Gujarat polls dates

Why hasn't it announced Gujarat poll dates yet? Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar responded to questions by saying that no rules had been broken.

Image Credit; ANI

New Delhi: The Election Commission today skipped Gujarat in order to announce poll dates for Himachal Pradesh, despite the fact that the schedules for the two states are traditionally released at the same time. The fact that the Gujarat election dates, which had been widely anticipated, had not been announced was surprising given that the terms of both assemblies expire within the next six months. In such cases, state election dates are announced together, and the results are announced on the same day. Responding to questions, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated that no rules had been broken. "The two states' assemblies end 40 days apart. According to the rules, it should be at least 30 days so that one result does not influence the other "Mr Kumar told reporters. The Gujarat assembly's term ends on February 18, and Himachal Pradesh's term ends on January 8. Both states are ruled by the BJP. "There are several factors to consider, such as the weather. "We want to hold the Himachal elections before the snow falls," he explained, adding that the Commission had met with "a variety of stakeholders." The Model Code of Conduct will apply to Himachal Pradesh for a shorter period of time – 57 days rather than 70 – the election chief explained. As reported by NDTV.  Given the unusually long period between voting and results in Himachal Pradesh, many questioned this defence. The state goes to the polls on November 12th, and the results will be announced almost a month later, on December 8th.

The extended period fueled speculation that the Election Commission was keeping a window open to declare elections in Gujarat soon and had only postponed the announcement for unknown reasons, and that votes could still be counted on the same day. When asked if votes would be counted in Gujarat on December 8, the Chief Election Commissioner said, "When we come for Gujarat, we will tell you this."

The only other time the two states' election announcements were separated was in 2017. Himachal Pradesh voted on November 9th, and Gujarat voted twice, on December 9th and 14th. However, both results were announced on December 18. In Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, the ruling party is being challenged this time by Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is aggressively campaigning to expand its national presence following its massive victory in Punjab earlier this year.