Ranchi: The first phase of polling has began in Jharkhand today. A total of 43 seats out of 81 are going to polls. As many as 683 candidates will be in the fray, which includes include former Chief Minister Champai Soren and ex-MP Geeta Kora, former Chief Minister Madhu Kora’s wife .
While 1.37 crore voters of Jharkhand are expected to exercise their franchise today. Notably, of the 683 candidates, there are 609 males, 73 are women, and one third gender. Of the 43 seats in the fray, 20 are Scheduled tribes, six seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, and 43 are for general categories.
The Election Commission has also set up 15,344 polling stations across the states. Among these polling stations, 12,716 are in rural areas and 2,628 are located in urban areas. While the polling will end at 5 pm in all constituencies that are going on polls, the same will end at 4 pm in 950 booths across the state.
Key candidates in the first phase of Jharkhand polls
Champai Soren, who joined the BJP recently, will face JMM’s Ganesh Mahli in the Seraikela constituency. BJP’s Geeta Kora will take on Congress’ Sona Ram Sinku in Jagannathpur. Among other key candidates, senior Congress leader Rameshwar Oraon will lock horns with AJSU Party’s Shanti Bhagat in Lohardaga.JD (U) candidate Saryu Roy will take on Congress’ Banna Gupta in Jamshedpur (West). ), BJP’s Purnima Sahu Das, who is the daughter of Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, will face Ajoy Kumar from Congress in Jamshedpur (East).
High-pitched Jharkhand elections
Notably, while the JMM-led coalition under Chief Minister Hemant Soren is looking to return to power, the NDA, on the other hand, is looking to win the election. During the pitched campaigns, PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP President JP Nadda campaigned aggressively for the party. Among the number of development schemes, the party had also promised to remove illegal immigrants from Bangladesh from the state.
During the 2019 Assembly polls, the JMM had won 30 seats, while BJP secured 25 seats. The JMM then formed the government with Congress with a comfortable majority of 47 seats in the state.
