The single phase Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh will take place on the 4th of next month while the two phase polls in Gujarat will take place on 13th and 17th December. Announcing the schedule of assembly elections for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Chief Election Commissioner, V.S.Sampath said all necessary arrangements have been made for the conduct of free and fair polls in both states. The Counting for both the states will take place on 20th December.

For the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, notification will be issued on the 10th of this month. The last date for nomination is 17th and scrutiny will take place the next day. Candidates can withdraw their nominations till the 20th of this month.

For two phase Gujarat Assembly polls, notification will be issued on 17th of November for first phase and 23rd November for the second phase. The last date for filing of nominations is on 24th November for first phase while it is 30th November for the second phase. Scrutiny will take place on 26th November for the first phase while for the second phase it is 1st December. Withdrawal of candidatures can be done till 28th November for first phase while it is 3rd December for the second phase. Our correspondent reports, the term of legislative assembly of Himachal Pradesh expires on 10th January while the term of Gujarat Assembly expires on the 17th January next year.

The Chief Election Commissioner said, the Commission will be appointing General observers and has laid special focus on expenditure monitoring and paid news.

Mr. Sampath said, expenditure monitoring has been taken up on a very elaborate manner. Candidates will be required to open seperate bank accounts and incur election expenditure only from that account. Mr. Sampath also said, the Election Commission has issued new instructions to have state and district level committees for monitoring and initiating action in paid news cases.

According to the latest electoral rolls, in Himachal Pradesh over 45 lakh 16 thousand voters are expected to exercise their franchise, while Gujarat has more than 3 crore 78 lakh voters on the rolls.

With the announcement of poll dates for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat asemblies, model code of conduct has come into force.