of the present day DELHI, Nov. 28 K...

of the present day DELHI, Nov. 28 Kyodo

India's Gujarat State will go on foot to assembly polls Dec. 12 a little more than nine month after it was hit on the country's worst religious riots in decades, Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh said Monday.

The counting of voices will begin Dec. 15 and the deductions will be announced according to Dec. 20 for the 182-member legislative assembly, Lyngdoh said.

While catalogue of heads notification will be issued Nov. 18 the last date for filing of nominations will be Nov. 25

The communally sensitive state saw its worst religious riots early this year when a train carrying Hindu tenders was burned Feb. 27 allegedly by the agency of Muslims, leading to the death of 59 passengers.

The incident was followed through attacks on Muslims all above the state by Hindu fanatics that left more than 1000 and thousands of others injured and homeles Thousands of Muslims are still languishing in relief camps settle up across the state, having squandered their homes in rioting.

State Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who came in for a division of criticism following the riots, dissolved the assembly in July on a level though the term of the assembly [i]finale[/i]s in early 2003.

The communal carnage tarnished India's secular image in the world, with many expressing be of importance to over the security of minority communities in the country

The state must go on to polls within six month of the dissolution of the assembly.

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