The first phase of the Jharkhand assembly election concludes with a total voter turnout of 62.87 per cent on Saturday. Voting for the first phase of the elections was started at 7 am and concluded at 3 pm in 13 seats of the 81-seat constituency.
In the first phase of elections, the key candidates whose fate will be decided by the voters include Jharkhand Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Congress state chief Rameshwar Oraon, and former Minister and BJP candidate Bhanu Pratap Shahi.
Today’s poll witnessed some minor incidents of violence as well. Just before the polling began, Maoists blew up a bridge in Gumla with the view to restrict the voters to reach the polling stations.
Minor clashes between BJP and Congress leader were also reported in the Daltanganj Assembly seat. The Congress candidate KN Tripathi waved his licensed revolver in the air after he was stopped from entering a polling booth.
In a gesture of respect towards the democracy, a brother and sister came to cast their votes giving importance to elections than their weddings. Rajan Ram is getting married on Saturday itself while his sister Chanda Kumari on Sunday.
The duo reached with their face plastered with turmeric as part of the rituals. They reached booth No 259 cast their votes and left for their weddings.
As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), out of 37,78,963 voters, 19,79,991 were men while 17,98,966 were women while five belonged to the third gender.
On single-seat, maximum candidates contesting was 28 in Bhawnathpur seat, while the minimum was nine in the Chatra seat.
As per ECI, there were 4892 booths in the first phase of elections, out of which 4585 were located in rural areas and 307 in urban areas. Of this, 121 were Sakhi booths and 417 model booths. In the first phase, the webcasting facility was provided at 1,262 booths.
The Jharkhand Assembly is of 81 seats out of which 13 went to polls today. On these 13 seats, the ruling BJP is fighting on 12 seats and supporting independent on one seat. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress, the RJD are fighting in alliance in the state on four, six and three seats respectively.
The other four phases of election is scheduled on December 7, 12, 16 and 20.