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Gujarat election on December 12: Election Commission

By a Correspondent in Delhi

The Election Commission announced on Monday that the election to the Gujarat Legislative Assembly would be held on December 12, 2002.

An hour after a constitution bench of the Supreme Court upheld the commission's stand on postponing the election Chief Election Commissioner James Lyngdoh addressed a press conference where he declared that the polls would be conducted in a single phase.

The last date for nominations will be November 25. Scrutiny will take place on November 26 and the last date for withdrawals will be November 28.

The counting will take place on December 15.

On the same day, the Election Commission will also conduct by-elections for three Lok Sabha seats and five assembly seats in other states.

Lyngdoh said the model code of conduct would go into force from immediate effect.

Since the election is to be held in a single phase, Lyngdoh said the force requirement to ensure a free and fair poll would be much larger, and said the Commission had asked for 400 companies of paramilitary forces for the purpose.

In a significant move, Lyngdoh said the same facilities would be extended to the foreign media and diplomatic missions to witness the poll as had been given to them earlier in Jammu & Kashmir.

He said the entire electoral process will be completed by December 20.

By-elections to three Lok Sabha constituencies -- one each in Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Gujarat -- would also be held on December 12, the CEC said.

The total electorate in Gujarat is 3.28 crore, Lyngdoh said.

In addition to this, nearly 400,000 people were not found to be residing at the place where their names were earlier registered, he said.

Out of this, 176,000 wanted to vote and had been identified, Lyngdoh said. As many as 35,052 polling stations would be set up for the one-day poll, he said.

Electronic Voting Machines would be used in all the constituencies, the CEC said, adding 45,000 EVMs would be shifted from Uttar Pradesh. The voting will take place between 0800 hours to 1700 hours.

Gujarat Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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