The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to announce the poll schedule for the soon-to-be-held assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The battle will primarily be between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
As per speculations, the assembly polls in Gujarat for 182 seats and Himachal Pradesh for 68 seats are likely to be held in December 2022.
In the previous elections in Gujarat that were held in 2017, BJP won 99 seats, followed by Congress, which won 77 seats, while AAP did not win any seats. Meanwhile, the Himachal assembly currently has 45 BJP MLAs, and 20 from Congress elected during the 2017 elections in the state.
Campaigning by political parties is going on full throttle in Gujarat, with political leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, and PM Narendra Modi visiting the state. Every nook and corner of Gujarat is filled with advertisement posters and banners of different political parties.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar visited Gujarat last month and met with the representatives of political parties and state officials. He took stock of the state administration’s preparedness for conducting the elections.
In Himachal Pradesh, the ECI held a meeting last month to review the election preparations with Deputy Commissioners. IG, CAPF, Superintendent of Police, DIG, and Nodal Officers of 12 districts.
The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for the last 27 years, except for a period of 17 months when party rebel Shankersinh Vaghela was the chief minister of the state with support from the Congress party.
PM Modi was on an extensive tour of Gujarat for two days this week. He inaugurated the metro train services for Ahmedabad and also flagged off the country’s third Vande Bharat Express that will run from Gandhinagar to Mumbai. He also inaugurated/laid the foundation stone of projects with a combined value of ₹27,000 crores across various parts of the state like Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, and Ambaji.
