The Election Commission today skipped Gujarat as it announced poll dates for Himachal Pradesh, though the schedule for the two states is traditionally revealed at the same time.
That the Gujarat election dates, widely anticipated, were not announced was surprising because the terms of both the assemblies end within the range of six months. In such cases, state election dates are announced together, and the results are declared on the same day.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, fielding questions, said no rules had been violated.
"There is a gap of 40 days between the end of the assemblies of the two states. According to the rules, it should be at least 30 days so that one result doesn't impact the other," Mr Kumar told reporters.
The term of the Gujarat assembly ends on February 18 and that of Himachal Pradesh, on January 8. The BJP is in power in both states.
"There are a number of factors, like weather. We want to hold the Himachal elections before the onset of snow," he explained, adding that the Commission had held consultations with "various stakeholders".
The Model Code of Conduct will apply to Himachal Pradesh for a fewer number of days -- 57 days instead of 70 -- the election chief said, continuing his explanation.
Many questioned this defence, given the unusually long gap between voting and results in Himachal Pradesh. The state votes on November 12 and the results will be declared almost a month later, on December 8.
The prolonged interval fueled speculation that the Election Commission was keeping a window to declare elections in Gujarat soon and had only deferred the announcement - for reasons unknown - and that the votes could still be counted on the same day.
The Chief Election Commissioner, asked about the possibility of votes being counted in Gujarat too on December 8, said: "When we come for Gujarat, we will tell you this."
The only other time when the election announcement in the two states was delinked was in 2017. Himachal Pradesh voted on November 9 and Gujarat voted in two phases, on December 9 and 14. But both results were declared on December 18. The opposition Congress had accused the BJP of trying to buy more time to roll out schemes and projects before the code of conduct kicked in.
In Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, the ruling party has been challenged this time by Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is campaigning aggressively to expand its national presence after its mega victory in Punjab earlier this year.
Arvind Kejriwal claims that his party is the main rival to the BJP, instead of a vastly weakened Congress. PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda have all visited Gujarat this month to amp up the party's reelection campaign.
"Obviously, this has been done to give more time to the PM to make some mega promises and carry out more inaugurations. Not at all surprising," said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
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