All is not okay with the BJP as EC declares Gujarat poll dates today
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New Delhi: The Election Commission of India will announce the date of polls in Gujarat at noon today.
Since Aam Admi Party has pitted itself against the BJP as a major contender, the upcoming polls have already gained oomph and excitement.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announce the date of polls in the presence of Election Commissioner Anoop Chandra Pandey at the Rang Bhavan auditorium of All India Radio, according to India Today.
EC shied away from declaring the poll dates for Gujarat while setting the date for Himachal Pradesh last month.
The polls in Gujarat will take place probably in the first week of December in two phases, the report says.
The vote counting for Gujarat will be carried out on December 8 just as in Himachal Pradesh.
Over 27 years in power, the ruling BJP for the first time is facing searing heat in its stronghold.
The saffron party won 99 of the 182 seats in the Assembly polls last time in 2017.
Opposition Congress has long been too emaciated to secure a winning majority but still managed to retain an optimistic 77 seats.
The entry of AAP into Gujarat's two-party-driven politics, riding on a wave of success first in Delhi and then in Punjab, has given a headache to both the parties—and the BJP in particular.
AAP is aiming at the BJP in Gujarat with its grander aim of winning national polls two years later.
Although AAP is yet to show its invisible base in the state, the ruling BJP has taken it as a major threat quite unlike the senile Congress.
Polls analysts however say that the contest will be three-cornered with the BJP and the Congress taking on each other, while AAP trying to eat into the votes of both.
AAP has been the early bird of the campaign with Kejriwal frequently making stump speeches in the state, asking difficult questions to the ruling BJP about the acclaimed development in Gujarat.
At one point Kejriwal asked the BJP leadership to cite at least one good thing that the administration has done for the state in the last 27 years of its rule.
Despite the rising threat of AAP, the leaders of the saffron party exuded confidence in continuing in power.