Ranchi, Nov 20 (UNI) Amidst lengthy queues before polling booths, voting began for the second and last round of the Jharkhand Assembly election, involving 38 of the state’s total 81 constituencies at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.
Polling 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.
Around 1.3 crore voters are entitled to exercise their democratic choice to choose their representatives from a pool of 528 candidates including 472 men, 55 women, and one from the third gender in this round of elections
Unlike the first phase of elections in the state, the majority of the seats (27) going to hustings in the final round belong to the general category, while eight are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and three for Scheduled Castes (SC).
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.
Polling for 43 constituencies in the state took place in the first phase on November 13.
The votes will be counted alongside those of the Maharashtra Assembly polls on November 23.
