New Delhi, October 10
The Election Commission today announced the schedule for two-phase assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, on November 14 and December 19 and Gujarat on December 11 and 16. The announcement, however, came as a surprise for the hill state as elections are being held a couple of months before the expiry of the term of the assembly.

The term of the 68-member House in Himachal Pradesh ends on March 9, 2008 and of 182-member assembly in Gujarat expires on December 26.

Announcing the election schedule, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalswami said the model code of conduct would come into force immediately and it would be applicable to all candidates, political parties, the state governments concerned and the Union Government.

''As the pass leading to Kinnaur, Bharmour and Lahaul and Spiti, all ST seats, is officially closed on November 15 due to snowfall, and as per the direction of the High Court and the demand of the political parties the poll for these seats has to be held along with the rest of the state, so the commission has decided to hold poll in Himachal in two phases,'' he said.

While these three assembly constituencies would go to the polls on November 14, polling for the remaining 65 assembly segments in Himachal would be held on December 12, he said.

For the three assembly segments in Himachal, the notification would be issued on October 20, last date for nomination is October 27, scrutiny of nomination papers will be on October 29 and the last date for withdrawal will be October 31.

In the case of the remaining 65 assembly segments, the notification would be issued on November 23, the last date for nominations is November 30, scrutiny of nomination papers will be on December 1 and the last date for withdrawal is December 3, he added.

The counting of votes for both the phases in the hill state will be taken up on December 28 and the election process will be completed by December 31.

There are 45.43 lakh voters in Himachal Pradesh, who will exercise their franchise at 6,232 polling stations and 3.66 crore voters in Gujarat who will cast their votes at 39,620 polling stations. The number of reserved seats in Himachal Pradesh is 19 out of 68 seats, while 39 of the 182 constituencies in Gujarat are reserved for members of scheduled castes and tribes.

The election in Gujarat will be the second one to be held after the post-Godhra violence in early 2001 and the CEC gave an assurance that the people belonging to minority community, who are still living in camps, will be enabled to exercise their franchise without any fear.

On the two-phase polls in Gujarat, he said the requirement and approach in deployment of paramilitary forces was different. As many as 68,000 police and paramilitary personnel, including those brought in from other states, will be deployed in the two states.

Gopalswami said those officials, including police personnel, in Gujarat against whom there were cases or who had been indicted by the courts and found not to be fair in the last elections, will not be allowed to be a part of the poll process this time.

On the voting rights of minorities, who were still living in relief camps in the western state, he said ''we have ensured that all of them are given election registration cards''. When asked where these electors would vote, as they may not be able to return to their home constituencies, he said ''their cards would tell them where they would vote''.

For the first phase of poll in Gujarat, the date of issue of gazette notification would be November 15, while the last date for filing nominations would be November 22. The last date for scrutiny would be November 23 and November 26, the last date for withdrawal of candidature. The election would be held on December 11.

In the second phase, the notification would be issued on November 21, last date for filing nominations would be November 28, while the last date for scrutiny of nomination papers would be November 29 and December 1 for withdrawals. Election would be held on December 16.

''The counting for both the phases will take place on December 23 and the poll process will be completed by December 26'', he added.