The election commission (EC) will declare dates of poll for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh on October 4 and 5.

As a final drill before announcing the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in November, the EC held a 4-hour long session through video-conferencing with the two states' chief electoral officers and the district returning officers on Wednesday and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements to conduct the polls.

The tentative date for polling in Himachal Pradesh is November 8 ahead of the Diwali falling on November 13 while efforts are on to get more central forces to hold the polls in a single day in Gujarat on November 20, failing which it will be held on two days, EC sources disclosed.

Both the states will have new assemblies two months ahead of the term of the present Houses as the term of the Himachal Assembly is up to January 10 and that of Gujarat is up to January 18. The elections are being held early due of extreme weather in Himachal in December.

Sources said an announcement of the elections is slated on October 4 or 5 and it will be the date from which the model code of conduct for the governments and political parties will come into force. In the video-conferencing, the election commission's adviser Mehdiratta, who was the deputy election commissioner for umpteen years, spoke to the state and district officers on the model code and the procedure for rejection of nominations.

In the first half an hour of the video-conference, chief election commissioner VS Sampath and his colleague election commissioners H S Brahma and Nasim Zaidi explained their expectations from the district returning officers to ensure free and fair polls. Then there were clarifications sought by the district officers. "We are satisfied that all arrangements for the conduct of the polls in the two states are in place and there is nothing amiss," an EC official said.

In the past, the EC used to call all district returning officers to Delhi for consultations before announcing the elections, but this time it found video-conference facility a better and economical way as it saved the officers from the inconvenience of travelling.