Election Commission announces dates for Himachal Pradesh assembly polls. Check details

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The Himachal Pradesh assembly election will be held in a single phase on November 12, while vote counting will be done on December 8, the Election Commission of India (EC) announced on October 14.

The term of the Himachal assembly ends on January 8 and the EC had recently visited the state to review election preparedness. In the 2017 assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won 44 seats in Himachal while the Congress had won 21.

Releasing the poll schedule for Himachal, the EC added that the filing of nominations will begin on October 17 and continue till October 25, while withdrawals will be allowed till October 29; the entire electoral process will conclude by December 10.

The announcement was made at a press conference held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi; it was addressed by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with EC Anup Chandra Pandey.

“For the forthcoming single-phase legislative assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh, our teams will be ready to serve more than 55 Lakh electors of whom 67,000 are service voters and 56,000 would be PWDs,” the CEC said at the press conference.

The CEC added that there are 1,184 voters in the poll-bound state who are centenarians (aged 100+) this time, and “we (the EC) have reached out to all of them”.

Here are some of the other important announcements made by the EC:

• The ECI Suvidha Portal will provide online nomination and affidavit facility to candidates/political parties. Permissions for rallies, meetings, etc. can also be applied online through this portal
• Candidates' KYC would be made available through the KYC app, to empower informed voting
• Those without voter EPIC will be able to vote by producing up to a dozen approved documents
• Every assembly would have at least one polling booth managed entirely by women, and some by PWD staff
• Voters aged 80+, those affected by COVID-19 will get to opt for postal ballot; the process will be videographed.
• No cash vans would move in poll-going states after 5 PM to 10 AM: CEC Rajeev Kumar
• Social media teams have been set up to keep a strict vigil on fake news being spread during elections