New Delhi/IBNS: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to announce the dates for upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Friday.
The EC is likely to announce the dates at a press conference scheduled for 3 pm.
Gujarat, the backyard of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is witnessing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spirited campaign to keep its footprint in the western state, where the BJP is aiming for a straight seventh term.
The Congress, which had offered Modis BJP a close contest back in 2017 polls, is facing the challenge to keep its relevance after being wiped out of the majority of Indian states including its stronghold Punjab earlier this year.
The elections in Gujarat are closely followed to track whether the AAP, which swept Punjab in 2022, emerges as a new alternative to the BJP in the state with national repercussions.
In Himachal, the BJP had won 43 out of 68 seats, comfortably ahead of Congress 22, in the 2017 state polls.
