Ahmedabad, Oct 30 : Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswami will begin a three-day visit to Gujarat from today in a bid to hold ''free and fair'' elections for the state assembly.

The CEC team will meet senior officials besides visiting Surat and Vadodara where they will review the election work.

Gopalaswami will also meet District Electoral Officers of Surat, Navsari, Dangs and Valsad to take stock of the arrangements.

On Wednesday, Gopalaswami will visit Vadodara and interact with the DEOs of Vadodara, Godhra, Dahod, Narmada and Bharuch.

This is the CEC's second visit to Gujarat after the announcement of election dates on October 10.

In the run up to the two-phase polling, political activities have started gaining momentum, particularly after the Tehelka sting operations related to 2002 post Godhra riots, with the BJP and the Congress trading charges and counter-charges against each other.

The electoral process for the 12th Gujarat State Assembly will begin from November 15, and state electorate will cast their votes on December 11 and 16.

Counting of votes for the 182-member Gujarat assembly will take place on December 23.

The Bharatiya Janata Party managed to win 127 seats, while the Congress party was able to win only 51 seats in the 2002 Gujarat assembly polls. The Janata Dal (United) and independents won two seats each. (ANI)