Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2014: Voting begins for the 13 seats in first phase

The first phase voting for Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2014 has begun. For the 13 seats, 199 candidates are trying their luck.

Author: Aadil Ikram Zaki Iqbal

Published: November 25, 2014, 7:01 AM IST

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https://www.india.com/news/india/jharkhand-assembly-elections-2014-voting-begins-for-the-13-seats-in-first-phase-202688/ Copy

The first phase voting for Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2014 will be underway today with 199 candidates vying for 13 seats available. Among the prominent candidates are Jharkhand Rural Development Minister K.N. Tripathi, Congress’s state president Sukhdeo Bhagat, and former minister and Janata Dal-United (JDU) candidate Sudha Chowdhary.

Altogether 33,61,938 voters, including 15,77,090 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise and elect their representatives. More than 3,900 polling booths have been set up and 35,425 polling personnel deployed to conduct free, fair and peaceful polling. Eighteen women and 72 independents are in the electoral race in this phase.

The BJP and the Congress are expected to battle it out in the first phase. While the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) will also try to open its account as it does not hold a single seat in these 13 constituencies. During the campaign, Congress president Sonia Gandhi crticised the BJP for ‘divisive agenda’. While Narendra Modi urged the voters to end ‘dynastic politics’ in the state, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also left no stone unturned while campaigning.

The results of five phase elections of Jharkhand Assembly will be announced on December 23.