Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday sounded the poll bugle for Gujarat – the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The commission announced the dates for assembly elections, which will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will be held on December 1, while the second phase on December 5. The results will be announced on December 8.
Gujarat elections: Here’s all you need to know
Number of constituencies
Gujarat has 182 assembly seats out of these 13 are reserved for SCs and 27 for STs. The highest number of seats is in Central Gujarat (61), followed by Saurashtra-Kutch (54), South Gujarat (35) and North Gujarat (32). In the last poll, the BJP did well in South and Central Gujarat, while Congress gained space in the rest two regions.
Electorates and polling booths
The total number of electors as per electoral rolls is 4,91,17,308. Of these, 4,90,89,765 are general voters while 27,943 are service voters. This time, the commission will set up 51,782 polling booths, 3.29 per cent more than what was in the last election held in 2017.
Key parties in the fray
The fight is expected to be between the ruling BJP and the Congress. However, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) aggressive campaign is likely to make it a trilateral contest. The AAP’s claims that Congress could not defeat the BJP in the past 27 years and there is no visible sign that it will is gaining currency among the people. For BJP, which has been in power in the state for the last 27 years, the biggest challenge would be to quell anti-incumbency. Besides these three, five more parties are in the fray – Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
How parties fared in the last election
The BJP had won 99 seats, 15 less than what it had got in 2012. The Congress had bettered its tally to 77 seats, 16 more from the previous election when it could manage only 61 out of 182 seats. In the last election, the BJP secured 49.1 per cent votes while Congress had to settle with 41.14 per cent votes. Two seats had gone to BTP, one to NCP and three were independents.
Documents needed at the polling booths
For identification of voters at polling stations, voter will have to present their election photo identity card or any other i-card – approved by the EC – along with the photo voter slips. Voter can carry Aadhaar card, PAN card, passport, driving license, MNREGA job card, bank and post office passbooks, health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour, smart card issued by the Registrar General of India under the National Population Register, pension document with photograph, service identity cards with photograph issued to employees by governments – central, state, PSUs, Public Limited companies – and official identity cards issued to MPs, MLAs.
