Elections 2022 LIVE: EC Updates Himachal Turnout At 75%. Highest In Doon Seat, Lowest In Shimla Urban
Assembly Election 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Follow this space to get all the latest news on bypoll results as well as electioneering and campaigning for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls.
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Elections 2022 LIVE HIGHLIGHTS: Hello and welcome to ABP Live blog to find all the latest news from the polling battlegrounds of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls.
Gujarat Elections 2022: AAP Declares 12 More Candidates, Alpesh Kathiriya To Contest From Surat
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced the names of 12 more candidates, including former Patidar quota leader Alpesh Kathiriya, for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which has been trying to project itself as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) main contender in Gujarat, released its 11th list of candidates on Monday.
With this, it has so far declared 130 candidates for polls to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly which will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
Kathiriya has been given the ticket from the Patidar-dominated Varachha Road seat in Surat city, currently held by former minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kishor Kanani.
Kathiriya was a close aide of quota spearhead Hardik Patel, who joined the BJP earlier this year after quitting the Congress.
Another Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Dharmik Malaviya has been chosen for the Olpad seat in Surat, also held by the BJP.
The other AAP candidates are - BT Maheshwari (to contest from Gandhidham seat), MK Bombadiya (Danta), Ramesh Nabhani (Palanpur), Mukesh Thakkar (Kankrej), Lalji Thakor (Radhanpur), Rajendrasinh Parmar (Modasa) and Umesh Makwana (Botad).
Rahul Bhuva and Dinesh Joshi have been given the tickets for Rajkot East and Rajkot West seats respectively, while Bhimabhai Makwana has been chosen to contest from Porbandar's Kutiyana seat, currently held by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's party had won 27 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation last year.
Himachal & Gujarat Election Schedule
The Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule for 182-member Gujarat Assembly which will see its term ending on February 18, 2023. In a press conference held in the national capital, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced that Gujarat will undergo polls in two phases with first phase of election on December 1 while the second phase of polling will be held on December 5 and the votes will be counted on December 8, 2022.
The Himachal assembly poll ( Himachal Vidhan Sabha election) will be held in a single phase and the date of polling is November 12. The last date to file the nomination is October 25 and the counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh assembly election will take place on December 8.
With the announcement from the ECI, the Model Code of Conduct comes into effect.
(With PTI inputs)
Elections 2022 LIVE: Cong, AAP make old pension scheme restoration demand major poll plank in Gujarat
The demand for restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) has emerged as a major poll plank in Gujarat with both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party promising to implement it if voted to power in the state where the Assembly elections are scheduled next month.
With this promise, the opposition parties aim to garner the support of lakhs of government employees who are up in arms against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the new pension scheme.
Elections for the 182 member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.
The Gujarat government had introduced the new contributory pension scheme for employees joining the service on or after April 1, 2005. As per its notification, it will make a matching contribution of 10 per cent of the basic pay plus dearness allowance (DA) contributed by the employees in the NPS fund.
Under the Centre's scheme, the government will contribute 14 per cent against an employee's contribution of 10 per cent of his/her salary and DA with effect from April 1, 2019.
After protests by employees in Gujarat, the state government had said the new pension will not be applicable to those employees who had joined duty before April 2005. It also promised to increase its contribution in the fund to 14 per cent from the 10 per cent earlier.
The employees have staged massive agitations against the government in Gujarat while demanding restoration of the OPS because they believe the New Pension Scheme is not in the interest of the retiring employees.
With the BJP government not acceding to the demands of the employees, the Congress and the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP have assured to bring back the OPS, in one of their most emphatic poll promises. (PTI)
Elections 2022 LIVE: Voter Turnout Reaches 75 Per Cent. Highest In Doon Seat, Lowest In Shimla Urban
Bumper voting was witnessed for the elections of 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and the turnout has reached almost 75 per cent. The counting of votes done through ballot paper is yet to be done. Therefore the vote percentage is expected to reach up to 77 per cent. The highest voter turnout was 85.2 per cent in Doon assembly constituency, while the lowest, 62.53 per cent was recorded in Shimla Urban. Sirmaur district topped in terms of voting, where 78.00 per cent polling was recorded and the lowest voter turnout was 71.05 per cent in Kangra district. During 2017 Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, 75.57 percent voting was recorded.
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