Voting in 43 of the 81 assembly seats of Jharkhand began at 7 am on Wednesday to decide the electoral fate of 683 candidates, including former chief minister Champai Soren and ex-MP Geeta Kora. Voting will continue in these assembly seats in 15 districts till 5 pm.
While the JMM-led coalition is seeking to retain power in a tough contest with BJP-led NDA by riding on its welfare schemes including Maiyan Samman Yojana, the BJP has raised the Hindutva pitch. BJP also talked about infiltration and alleged corruption by the current dispensation.
Former CM Champai Soren, contesting on a BJP ticket in Seraikela, faces a challenge from former JMM's Ganesh Mahli. BJP’s Geeta Kora, wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, will lock horns with Congress' Sona Ram Sinku in Jagannathpur. Congress veteran Rameshwar Oraon will contest against AJSU Party's Shanti Bhagat in Lohardaga.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma held a number of rallies in the state.
INDIA bloc leaders including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his wife and legislator Kalpana Soren campaigned. They promised welfare schemes and accused the BJP-led Centre of "unleashing" all central agencies including ED, CBI and I-T against the Opposition.
Both the NDA and INDIA bloc pulled out all the stops to ensure their victories in the elections with BJP focusing on 'Roti, Beti, Maati' and the INDIA bloc trying to capitalise on "suppression of voice of a tribal CM".
The BJP's key promises include "driving out infiltrators", implementing Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Rs 2,100 per month to every woman and 5 lakh employment opportunities for the youth.
The JMM, in order to counter BJP's 'Gogo Didi' scheme of providing Rs 2,100 financial assistance to women per month, promised to give Rs 2,500, besides 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, bringing domicile policy based on 1932 as the cut-off year for land records, implementation of Sarna Dharma Code, and hiking reservations for the OBC, SC and ST communities to 27 per cent, 12 per cent, and 28 per cent respectively.
A total of 1.37 crore voters are eligible to participate in the voting on Wednesday. Out of the 43 seats, 17 are reserved for general category, 20 for Scheduled Tribes and six for Scheduled Castes. A total of 15,344 polling stations have been set up for the first phase of elections. Of those, 12,716 are located in rural areas and 2,628 in urban areas.
Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said all preparations for voting have been completed and polling personnel have reached the stations.
The Chief Electoral Officer said since the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, a total of Rs 208.78 crore worth of illegal material and cash has been seized. Till Tuesday, 58 cases have been registered over violation of the MCC, of which the maximum of 29 was in reported in Garhwa district.
The second phase of elections will be held on November 20 and the votes will be counted on November 23.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the JMM won 30 seats and the BJP secured 25, down from 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.
