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HP polls: Model code of conduct comes into force; spending limit of candidate increased to ₹40 lakh
Tashigang polling station situated at an altitude of 15,256 feet above sea level is the highest while there are 65 polling stations located at an altitude of 10,000 to 12,000 feet
With the Election Commission of India announcing the schedule for the elections., the model code of conduct come into force in the state on Friday.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manish Garg, while addressing a press conference in Shimla today, said that the votes for the 14th Legislative Assembly will be held on November 12, with counting to take place on December 8. The election process will be completed by December 10. The notification for the Vidhan Sabha elections will be issued on October 17.
He said that all the 68 Vidhan Sabha seats will vote in a single phase. The state has 17 assembly seats reserved for scheduled castes and three seats reserved for tribal candidates. He said that the election commission has increased the expenditure limit of candidates in the Vidhan Sabha elections from ₹28 lakh to ₹40 lakh.
He said that the EVMs have reached the department for conducting the elections and their first trial has also been done.
Garg informed that out of the 55,07,261 voters, 67,532 are servicemen. There are 28,46,201 male voters and 27,28,555 female voters among the registered voters. Apart from these, 37 third genders are also registered in the voter lists. He informed that the number of voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years in the state is 1,86,681. The number of centenarian voters is 1,181. The number of voters in the age group of 80 to 90 years is 1,20.894.
The CEO said that there will be 7,881 polling stations in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections up from 7525 in the 2017 state polls. There are 646 urban and 7,235 rural polling stations in the state. He said that the Tashigang polling station situated at an altitude of 15,256 feet above sea level is the highest. Apart from this, 65 polling stations are located at an altitude of 10,000 to 12,000 feet and 20 polling stations are located at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet. The polling teams will have to walk 14 km to reach the Chakki Batori polling station of the Bharmour legislative assembly seat.
Garg said that the Sulah Vidhan Sabha constituency has the maximum number of 1,04,486 voters while the least 24,742 voters are in the Lahaul Spiti Vidhan Sabha constituency. He said that a maximum number of 1,494 voters were registered at Siddhbari polling station in Dharamsala and a minimum 16 are registered at the Kinnaur polling station.
