Voting for the first of the two-phase Jharkhand Assembly elections is set to take place on Wednesday, with 1.37 crore out of the total 2,60 eligible voters heading to the polls in 43 constituencies across 15 districts.
A total of 683 candidates – 609 men, 73 women and a third gender person – are vying for 43 seats, including 17 general seats, 20 reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and six for Scheduled Castes, Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar told PTI.
Prominent names whose fate hangs balance include former Chief Minister Champai Soren, Health Minister Banna Gupta, Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji, Geeta Koda (wife of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda), and Purnima Das, the daughter-in-law of former Chief Minister Raghubar Das.
A total of 15,344 polling stations have been set up for the first phase of elections. Out of them, 12,716 booths are located in rural areas and 2,628 booths in urban areas.
Kumar said all preparations for voting have been completed and on Monday polling personnel were sent to 194 polling stations. Polling personnel were sent to the 31 remaining booths on Tuesday.
In the first phase, voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm. However, in 950 booths, the voting time will end at 4 pm, though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to vote.
The responsibility of the entire voting process at 1,152 polling stations will be in the hands of women, Kumar said, adding that 24 booths will be manned by handicapped people.
He said since the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, a total of Rs 179.14 crore worth of illegal material and cash has been seized.
Till Monday, 54 cases were registered for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Star campaigners of both the NDA and INDIA bloc including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi and others canvassed for their respective party nominees during the campaigning.
Both the NDA and INDI bloc pulled out all the stops to ensure their victories in the upcoming elections with the former concentrating on “infiltration, corruption and scams” while the latter focused on tribal rights and welfare issues and how they were being harassed.
Prime Minister Modi did a mega road show in Ranchi on Sunday which attracted huge crowds.
Apart from PM and other senior leaders, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who is BJP’s election co-in-charge and several CMs of the saffron party-ruled states did intensive campaigning.
JMM executive president and state Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his wife and JMM legislator Kalpana Soren addressed multiple rallies.
Key factors that are likely to influence the election include the BJP’s central welfare schemes and the arrest and subsequent bail of Soren by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ruling alliance claims the arrest was politically motivated, as Soren was detained in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud.
The primary contest in Jharkhand is between the JMM-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) and the BJP-led NDA. Of the 43 seats in the first phase, the JMM is contesting 23, the Congress 17, while Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD has fielded candidates in five seats, with two of these candidates running against alliance members.
Within the NDA, the BJP is contesting 36 seats, while Sudesh Mahto’s AJSU has fielded candidates in 4 seats, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in 2 and Chirag Paswan’s LJP (R) in 1 constituency.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the contest was close, with the JMM winning 30 seats and the BJP securing 25, down from 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.
Currently, the strength of the Assembly stands at 74, with the JMM-led ruling alliance comprising 44 members — 26 from the JMM, 17 from Congress, and one from RJD.
With inputs from agencies
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Jharkhand Assembly election: Phase 1 polling today, Champai Soren among 683 candidates in fray
