New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has decided to hold bye-elections to fill casual vacancies from 64 – Dhrangadhra AC and 85 – Manavadar AC in the State Legislative. Assembly of Gujarat.
After taking into consideration various factors like, festivals, electoral rolls, etc., the Commission has decided to hold the bye-elections to these 2 Assembly Constituencies following the same schedule as for the relevant Parliamentary Constituency as per the programme mentioned as under: –
| Sl No. | Event | Date |
| 1 | Issue of Notification | 28.03.2019 |
| 2 | Last date of making Nominations | 04.04.2019 |
| 3 | Scrutiny of Nominations | 05.04.2019 |
| 4 | Last date for withdrawal of Candidatures | 08.04.2019 |
| 5 | Date of Poll | 23.04.2019 |
| 6 | Counting of Votes | 23.05.2019 |
| 7 | Date before which election shall be completed | 27.05.2019 |
ELECTORAL ROLL
The electoral rolls of the Assembly Constituencies where bye-elections are being held have been revised with reference to 01.01.2019 as the qualifying date.
ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVMs) & VVPATs
The Commission has decided to use EVMs & VVPATs in the bye-elections in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.
IDENTIFICATION OF VOTERS
In consonance with the past practice, the Commission has decided that the voter’s identification shall be mandatory in the aforementioned bye- elections at the time of poll. Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter. However, in order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his/her franchise, if his/her name figures in the Electoral Rolls, separate instructions will be issued to allow additional documents for identification of voters at the time of poll in the said bye-elections.
MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT
The Model Code of Conduct shall come into force with immediate effect in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the Assembly Constituencies going for bye-elections is included, subject to partial modification as issued vide Commission’s instruction No. 437/6/INST/2016/CCS, dated 29th June, 2017 (available on the Commission’s website). The Model Code of Conduct shall be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State Government concerned. The Model Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to the Union Government for the State concerned.
