Voting will be held for the first phase of assembly elections in Jharkhand today i.e. on Wednesday. In the first phase, voting will be held on 43 out of 81 assembly seats in the state. In this, 20 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, 6 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 17 are general seats. A total of 683 candidates are trying their luck in this phase of elections. Many senior leaders are also included in this.
In the first phase, there are some seats where the daughter-in-law of some of the big leaders of the state and the son and wife of some have the responsibility of handling their political legacy. In this, Meera Munda, wife of former Chief Minister and former Union Minister Arjun Munda, is contesting from Potka seat. Purnima Das Sahu, daughter-in-law of Orissa Governor and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghuvar Das, has the responsibility of handling his political legacy from Jamshedpur East. Raghuvar Das's daughter-in-law Purnima Das Sahu is contesting from Jamshedpur East.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister of the state Champai Soren himself has contested from Seraikela seat to maintain his political legacy. Along with this, his son Babulal Soren is the BJP candidate from Ghatshila. Babulal Soren also has the responsibility of carrying forward the political legacy of his father Champai Soren. Along with this, Jagat Manjhi, son of former state minister and current MP Joba Manjhi, is in the electoral fray from Manoharpur seat.
At the same time, the political credibility of 6 ministers of Hemant Soren cabinet is also at stake in the first phase. This includes minister cum candidate from Ghatshila Ramdas Soren, minister cum candidate Dr. Rameshwar Oraon, minister Deepak Biruva, minister Bana Gupta, minister Mithilesh Thakur.
Talking about the first phase, 15344 polling stations have been created for 43 seats, in which the number of urban polling stations is 2628 while the number of rural polling stations is 12716. The total number of voters in this phase is 1 crore 36 lakh 85 thousand 509. In this the number of male voters is 68 lakh 65 thousand 208. At the same time, the number of women voters is 68 lakh 20 thousand. The number of third gender voters is 301, while the number of disabled voters is 191553.
, Out of 15,344 polling stations for 43 seats, voting will be held at 14,394 polling stations from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, while at 950 booths, voting will take place only from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.
, Out of the total 15344 polling stations in the first phase, the responsibility of the entire process of 1152 polling stations will be in the hands of women, while the responsibility of 23 booths will be in the hands of youth and 24 booths will be in the hands of the disabled.
,Voting will be held only at 950 remote and Naxal-affected polling stations in the state from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. Employees have been sent to many of these polling stations via helicopter.
,The Chief Electoral Officer of Jharkhand has said that secrecy of voting is mandatory. There is a ban on carrying mobile phones, taking photos and making videos inside the booth. If this is done, action will be taken as per rules.
,Since the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct in the state, illegal materials and cash worth Rs 179 crore and 14 lakh have been seized, while 54 cases have been registered so far.
Voting for the second phase in Jharkhand will be held on November 20, while the results will be known along with Maharashtra elections on November 23. There is currently a JMM-led India Alliance government in the state and Hemant Soren is the Chief Minister. In this election, BJP has raised the issue of infiltration by Bangladeshis.
Along with voting for the first phase of assembly elections in Jharkhand, by-elections will also be held on 32 seats in 10 states on Wednesday. There are 31 assembly seats in it while there is one Lok Sabha seat. Earlier, elections were to be held on 33 assembly seats, but due to two assembly seats of Sikkim being elected unopposed, voting will be held on 31 seats. Out of 31 seats, 4 seats are reserved for Dalits and 6 seats are reserved for tribal community while 21 seats are for general category. The states where assembly by-elections are to be held include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Assam and West Bengal.
By-elections are also being held on Wayanad Lok Sabha seat of Kerala. This seat has become vacant after the resignation of Rahul Gandhi. Congress has declared party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi as its candidate from this seat. This is the first time that Priyanka Gandhi has entered electoral politics. At the same time, Satyan Mokeri has been fielded from the left side. Rahul Gandhi, who had won from two seats in the Lok Sabha elections, had vacated the Wayanad seat while retaining the Rae Bareli seat.
