New Delhi: After much delay and criticism, the Election Commission on Wednesday announced a two-phase poll in Gujarat on December 9 and 14, setting off a high-decibel faceoff between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress. Counting will be held on December 18 along with that of Himachal Pradesh.
The poll process in the state will start on November 14 with the issue of the gazette notification for the first phase. Candidates can start filing their nominations from that day.
While the first phase will be held in 89 of 182 seats, the notification for the second phase will be issued on November 20 for the other 93 seats in 14 districts.
After widespread claims following the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls that EVMs were tampered with, the EC announced that a paper trail of votes will be used in all 50,128 polling stations of 182 constituencies.
