Why were Gujarat dates not announced?

The Election Commission (EC)’s announcement of the Assembly election schedule for Himachal Pradesh, while withholding the schedule for Gujarat, has raised questions about its conduct. Polling will be held in Himachal Pradesh on November 13 and counting will take place on December 8. Gujarat also has to go in for election in the next few weeks. The term of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly ends in January next year and that of Gujarat ends in February. When the terms of Assemblies end within six months of each other, the poll schedules used to be announced on the same day, though the polling days might be different. The EC has not satisfactorily explained the reason for deviation from this practice.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has said that the EC has not violated any rule because there is a gap of 40 days between the ending of the terms of the two Assemblies. He said that the gap should be at least 30 days so that one result should not impact another. This is only a technical argument. Earlier this year, simultaneous elections were announced on the same day for six states, including UP and Goa, though the gap between the lapsing of Assemblies of the two states was 60 days. The EC had announced the election date for Himachal Pradesh before that of Gujarat in 2017 also, inviting criticism. It was believed that the announcement was delayed for Gujarat in order to give more time for the central and state governments to announce more sops to the state. The same criticism holds good now also. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state government have already announced many projects for the state in the past few days and more of them might be coming. These announcements are not possible after the model code of conduct comes into effect with the announcement of the poll dates.

The people of Himachal have to wait for the results for over three weeks after the elections. This is unfair because the state will practically have no government for those many days. There is a view that the extended period is meant to keep a window open to declare elections in Gujarat soon, as there is no other reason to delay the counting in Himachal for so many days. The EC has to be fair to all parties and has to be seen to be fair, too. Its conduct and decisions have given rise to the impression that it is biased in favour of the BJP. That diminishes the credibility of the EC and of the election system. The EC has been unresponsive to such criticism and has not cared to correct itself, either.