The Election Commission of India on Friday (14) announced the election schedule of the northern state of Himachal Pradesh but not that for Gujarat, the western state which is also set to go to polls around the same time.
Himachal Pradesh, which is ruled by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will go to polls on November 12 and the results will be announced on December 8.
Gujarat, the home state of prime minister Narendra Modi, is also ruled by the BJP for more than two decades now.
India's chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar (ANI Photo)
That the election schedule for Gujarat was not announced by the poll panel surprised many since the term of the assemblies in both states conclude within a time period of six months.
Generally, schedules for all states going to polls around the same time are announced around the same date and the results are announced on a common date.
Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said while fielding questions from the media that no rules were violated.
"There is a gap of 40 days between the end of the assemblies of the two states. According to the rules, it should be at least 30 days so that one result doesn't impact the other," he said.
The term of the Gujarat assembly is set to conclude in February 2023 while that of Himachal a month before.
"There are a number of factors, like weather. We want to hold the Himachal elections before the onset of snow," Kumar said, adding that the commission had held talks with "various stakeholders", NDTV reported.
The model code of conduct, which came into force with the announcement of the poll schedule, will apply to Himachal Pradesh for 57 days instead of 70 -- Kumar said.
There were also questions that the decision to keep almost a month's gap between the election in Himachal Pradesh and the result was kept to fit the Gujarat election in between even though its schedule was not declared for unknown reasons.
In 2017, when the ruling BJP did less satisfactorily in Gujarat, elections were announced in the two states on two separate occasions but the results were announced on the same date, which was December 18.
In Gujarat, the BJP has been challenged by a fast-rising Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, which has been campaigning aggressively in the state after winning power in the northern state of Punjab earlier this year.
Gujarat assembly has 182 members while Himachal has 68.
A 1996 photo of rapper Tupac Shakur (L) and Marion "Suge" Knight is shown on screens during closing arguments in the Duane Davis murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 31, 2026. Getty Images
A rescuer assists a resident through heavy mud following flash floods on August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. A sudden flood swept through the Bhote Koshi River basin in northern Rasuwa on August 26, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure as rescue teams searched for residents and foreign travellers reported out of contact. Hundreds were reported missing, as the death toll started to climb.Getty Images
Rescue personnel provide medical treatment to a child at an army rescue camp in Trishuli Batar, Nepal, on August 27, 2026. A sudden flood swept through the Bhote Koshi River basin in northern Rasuwa on August 26, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure, as rescue teams searched for residents and foreign travellers reported out of contact. Hundreds were reported missing as the death toll began to climb. Getty Ima
Family members of missing flood victims react at the emergency ward of the Maharajgunj Medical Campus, part of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, on August 28, 2026 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Authorities said the flash floods were triggered after a mass of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river near the Nepal-China border, leaving hundreds dead or missing and causing widespread damage in affected districts. Authorities continued the gruelling search for victims, many buried under metres of mud, as both China and Nepal issued fresh flooding alerts.Getty Images