Ranchi, November 20 (IANS). In the second and last phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections, voting has started from 7 am amid tight security on 38 seats in 12 districts.
A total of 14 thousand 219 polling stations have been set up on these seats, where before the start of voting, election workers conducted mock polls in the presence of representatives of the candidates.
Long queues of voters were seen at many booths before the start of voting. For the security of polling centers and polling parties, 585 companies of central paramilitary forces, 60 companies of JAP (Jharkhand Armed Force), besides 30 thousand personnel of district forces and home guards have been deployed.
In this phase, there are 31 highly sensitive polling stations where voting will take place only till 4 pm. Apart from these, votes can be cast at 13 thousand 187 other centers till 5 pm. 2414 polling stations are located in urban areas, while the number of booths in rural areas is 11 thousand 804.
48 booths have been developed as unique booths. There are 239 booths which are completely operated by women personnel. The arrangements of 22 polling stations are being handled by disabled workers while the arrangements of 26 polling stations have been handed over to the youth. The entire voting process is being monitored through webcasting.
In this phase, a total of 528 candidates are in the fray, whose fate will be decided by a total of 1 crore 23 lakh 58 thousand 195 voters. The seats where voting is taking place include 18 seats each in Santhal Pargana division and North Chotanagpur division and two seats in South Chotanagpur division.
Eight seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and three for Scheduled Castes, while the number of general seats is 27. In this phase, Mandu assembly constituency of Hazaribagh district is the largest in terms of area and Jharia assembly constituency of Dhanbad district is the smallest. The maximum number of 5 lakh 82 thousand 101 voters are in Bokaro assembly seat, while the least number of 2 lakh 17 thousand 388 voters are in Littipara seat of Santhal Pargana.
Major candidates of this phase include CM Hemant Soren as JMM candidate from Barhet seat, BJP state president and first CM of the state Babulal Marandi from Rajdhanwar seat, JMM’s star campaigner Kalpana Soren from Gandey seat, JMM candidate from Nala seat. Assembly Speaker Rabindranath Mahato, Assembly Leader of Opposition Amar Bauri on Chandankiyari seat, Congress candidate on Mahagama seat. Minister Deepika Pandey Singh, Congress quota minister Irfan Ansari in Jamtara, JMM quota minister Hafeezul Hasan in Madhupur, Minister Baby Devi as JMM candidate on Dumri seat, AJSU party chief Sudesh Mahato on Silli seat and CM Hemant on Dumka seat. Soren’s brother Basant Soren.
–IANS
SNC/KR
