NEW DELHI -- India's election commission, which had rejected plans for an early election in riot-scarred Gujarat state, said on Monday the poll would now be held on December 12.

"The date of the poll will be 12/12," election commission chief J.M. Lyngdoh told a news conference, adding the vote would be completed in one day using electronic voting machines.

"Counting will take place on December 15," he told Reuters.

The independent commission rejected in August plans by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which governs the western state and also heads India's ruling federal coalition for the election to be held in October.

The commission said it could not agree to an early election because the state had not recovered from Hindu-Muslim violence in February and March in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

The BJP state government was accused of turning a blind eye to the religious violence -- India's worst in a decade -- in which victims, most of them Muslims, were burned and hacked to death. The government denied the allegations.

Lyngdoh said the commission had asked the Federal Home Ministry for a heavy security presence in the state to ensure the polls were not marred by violence, but said he believed it was safe for the election to be held in December.

"We would not do it (have the election) if we had any doubt at all," he said.

The announcement came on the heels of a ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday saying the poll panel was within its constitutional rights to have rejected the original plan for a vote in October.

Critics had said the state BJP was seeking to exploit the deep religious divide in Gujarat created by the riots by bringing forward state elections due to be held early next year.

The BJP has been accused of bias against India's minority Muslims -- charges it has rejected.

The Hindu-Muslim clashes were triggered after a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu activists, burning 59 Hindus alive.