The notification for the January 30 Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand was issued on Thursday, thus setting the poll process in the two States in motion.
With the Governors of Punjab and Uttarakhand issuing the notifications for election to their State Assemblies, the process of filing of nominations for both the poll-bound States has started.
The last date of filing nominations in both Punjab and Uttarakhand is January 12, 2012, scrutiny the next day and the last date of withdrawal January 16. Polling is to be held on January 30 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the counting of votes would be taken up on March 4.
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The EC has said the election process in the two States has to be completed by March 9, 2012.
The terms of the present Assemblies in Punjab (117 seats) and Uttarakhand (70 seats) end on March 14 and March 12 respectively.
As per draft electoral rolls, Punjab has a total of 1,74,33,408 electors and the EC has set up 19,724 polling booths in the State.
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Of the 117 Assembly constituencies in Punjab, 34 are reserved for Scheduled Castes.
In Uttarakhand, there are a total of 57,40,148 voters as per draft electoral rolls and a total of 9,744 polling booths have been set up in the State by the EC.
Of the total 70 Assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand, 13 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes.
In the 2007 Assembly polls in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance came to power with the SAD winning 49, the BJP 19 and the Congress 44. Five seats went to independent candidates.