Gujarat will go to polls in two phases on December 1 and 5 with the counting of votes on December 8 along with that of Himachal Pradesh. Of the 182 seats in the legislative Assembly, 89 will go to polls in the first phase and 93 in the second. There are over 4.9 crore electors eligible to vote this year. There will be more than 51,000 polling stations set up, including more than 34,000 in rural areas.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, before announcing the schedule, expressed condolences to the victims of the Morbi bridge tragedy. He said there was a delay in announcing the poll schedule due to the accident that killed at least 135 people.