New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh while the same remains awaited for Gujarat. In a press conference held here today, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar announced that polls in Himachal Pradesh — where the legislative term will end on January 8, 2023 — will be held on November 12 in a single phase across the 68 constituencies and the votes will be counted on December 8. 


Polling schedule for Gujarat was not announced in today’s press conference. 


The process of polling in Himachal Pradesh Assembly Election 2022 will commence with gazette notification for the on October 17. Last date for filing nominations will be October 25 and the date for scrutiny of nominations will be October 27. Candidates will be allowed to withdraw their candidature till October 29. 


The voters will cast their votes on November 12 and the counting will take place on December 8 and the entire process will be completed by December 10. 




Other highlights of the press conference are as follows: 



  • Focus on new voters, women, people with disabilities (PwD), and third gender voters. 

  • Efforts to increase voter turnout

  • Postal ballot for absentee voters — senior citizens above 80 years of age, PwD, and Covid infected patients. 

  • Technological interventions:  cVigil App for grievance redressal with response within 100 minutes and PwD App for new registration, migration, correction in EPIC details and request for a wheelchair. ‘KYC portal’ for voters to know about the candidates contesting the election and ‘Suvidha portal’ for candidates to file nominations and affidavits and seek permission for rallies and meetings. 

  • No cash to move in poll-bound states between 5 pm to 5 am, airports under watch, GST to keep track of e-bills.  


A high-level team of the ECI led by CEC recently visited the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh to review poll preparedness.  


Following Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur earlier this year, all eyes are on Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh as they would undergo polls before the year-end.


The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party in both states is expected to retain its power as per the ABP-CVoter survey.