Election Commission to announce dates for Himachal Pradesh polls today: Sources

The Election Commission is likely to announce dates for Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections later today, according to sources in the poll panel.

The EC will address a press conference at 4 pm at the Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi.

Dates for another election-bound state Gujarat will be announced later, possibly next week.

The poll panel had recently indicated that Gujarat may go to polls in December as the term of the current legislative assembly ends in the third week of January.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A K Jyoti has said that voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system will be used in over 50,000 booths in Gujarat. The VVPAT system was first used in Goa polls earlier this year.

Jyoti said that paper slips would be counted at a single booth in each of the 182 constituencies to tally the number of slips with the votes cast.

For the first time, the poll panel would also introduce all-women polling stations in Gujarat in all assembly segments.

A team of Election Commission officials headed by the CEC was on a visit of Gujarat recently to assess poll preparedness.

TERM OF GUJARAT ASSEMBLY ENDS IN JANUARY

"Elections will have to be held in December as the term of the current Gujarat assembly is coming to end in the third week of January next", Jyoti said in response to a query on media reports and some politicians claiming that polls were going to be held in December.

"After Goa, this will be for the first time that we will be conducting the entire election using VVPAT here. This is a challenge for us too", Jyoti said in reply to a question regarding a demand raised by some political parties that at least 10 per cent of total VVPAT slips should be counted.

He said that according to procedure, candidates who have some grievances can ask for counting of slips of a particular booth and the poll officials would take a decision on it.

Meanwhile, the term of the current Himachal Pradesh assembly ends next month. Hence, election dates for Himachal Pradesh polls are likely to be in November.

(WITH INPUTS FROM PTI)