Ranchi, Nov 20 (UNI) Nearly 43 percent of the total 1.23 crore voters registered their democratic choice amid intense security half a dozen hours into poling for 38 seats in the second and final phase of the Jharkhand Assembly election on Wednesday.
State Chief Electoral Officer Ravi Kumar told newspersons here that the voter turnout was 42.92 percent till 1 p.m. in the 38 constituencies where polling was taking place for the 81-member Assembly. Forty three constituencies had gone to the hustings in round one on November 13.
The polling, which began at 7 a.m., will end at 5 p.m. in all but 31 of the total 14,218 booths. In these 31 booths, polling will conclude at 4 p.m.
Altogether 528 candidates including 472 men, 55 women, and one from the third gender have thrown their hats into the ring for this round of elections
Unlike the first phase of elections in the state, the majority of the seats (27) in the final round belong to the general category, while eight are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and three for Scheduled Castes (SC).
To ensure trouble-free polling, the Election Commission has deployed 585 companies of central forces and 60 companies of Jharkhand Armed Police, besides 30,000 district police personnel and homeguards.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), helmed by the Bharatiya Janata Party is locked in an intense fight with the incumbent Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-headed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) for forming the next government in the tribal-dominated state.
Prominent leaders contesting in this phase are Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Berhait, state BJP president and former CM Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar, ex-Deputy CM Sudesh Mahto (AJSU-P) from Silli and Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM) from Nala.
Besides, there are other star contestants like Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren (JMM) from Gandey, JMM chief Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren (BJP) from Jamtara, Louis Marandi (JMM) from Jama and Lobin Hembram (BJP) from Borrio.
The votes will be counted alongside those of the Maharashtra Assembly polls on November 23.
