Jharkhand assembly polls: Polling begins for fourth phase of Jharkhand election

Balloting began Sunday in 15 of the 81 assembly constituencies in the fourth of the five-phase elections in Jharkhand

Ranchi, Dec 14: Balloting began Sunday in 15 of the 81 assembly constituencies in the fourth of the five-phase elections in Jharkhand, officials said. Over 43 lakh voters, including more than 20 lakh women, will decide the fate of 217 candidates that includes 16 women. Balloting will take place at 5,482 polling booths. Voting on 13 seats began at 7 a.m. and will take place till 3 p.m., but will continue in the two constituencies of Dhanbad and Bokaro till 5 p.m.

The polling will take place at 5,482 booths including 36 auxiliary polling booths. Among these, 716 polling booths have been declared very sensitive while another 2,007 have been declared sensitive. The election commission has declared 183 polling stations as model polling stations. Web casting facility would be available in 335 polling stations and approximately 27,410 polling personnel would be deployed for poll duties during the fourth phase. In the fourth phase, a total of 43,48,709 voters including 20,03,516 female voters will decide the fate of 217 candidates that includes 16 female candidates.

Former chief minister Babulal Marandi is contesting from Giridih. Ministers Mannan Mallik of the Congress, Haji Hussain Ansari of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Suresh Paswan of the Rashtriya Janata Dal are among the prominent candidates in this phase.

“Balloting for 13 of the 15 seats will take place from 0700hrs to 1500hrs, however, for the two seats in Dhanbad and Bokaro, voting would continue till 1700hrs,” said an official of the election commission.

The key candidates whose fate will be decided in the fourth phase include former chief minister Babulal Marandi contesting from Giridih seat. Ministers Mannan Mallik of the Congress, Haji Hussain Ansari of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Suresh Paswan of the Rashtriya Janata Dal are among the other prominent candidates in this phase.