Jharkhand polls: Peaceful, Naxal violence-free voting, 66.18 pc turnout recorded in 43 assembly seats

Polling in the first phase of elections to 43 assembly seats in Jharkhand remained peaceful with over 6618 per cent of 137 crore voters exercising their franchise on Wednesday officials saidDespite almost half of the 15334 booths where polling took place being in the critical category no Naxal violence was reported barring one of two incidents in which Maoists tried to prevent voters from reaching booths in West Singhbhum district but the attempts were thwarted by the police and administration they saidApproximately 6618 per cent voter turnout was recorded as per data calculated till 950 pm with Lohardaga district topping the list with 7321 per cent polling and Hazaribag district recording the lowest at 6278 per cent a poll official saidThe overall polling percentage in the state surpassed 639 per cent recorded in the 2019 assembly polls according to the Election CommissionWith this the fate of 683 candidates including former Congress MP Geeta Kora and Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji among 73 women nominees in fray in the first phase has been sealedBarring Lohardaga and Hazaribag the poll percentage in other districts were SeraikelaKharsawan 7602 Gumla 6901 Simdega 6874 Khunti 6836 Garhwa 6842 Latehar 6716 West Singhbhum 6687 Ramgarh 6632 East Singhbhum 6710 Chatra 64 Palamu 6297 Koderma 6215 and Ranchi 6256West Singhbhum one of the most Maoistaffected districts in the state saw increase in votingWest Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary told PTI Polling was peaceful and overall turnout increased in all five constituencies Chaibasa Majhgaon Jagannathpur Manoharpur and Chakradharpur to 6996 per cent 7080 per cent 6984 per cent 6403 per cent and 6861 per cent respectively from 6649 per cent 6803 per cent 6502 per cent 6119 per cent and 6580 per cent respectively in 2019Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said The election process was peaceful and remained free of incidents Voting in urban areas was not as per expectations while in rural areas the turnout has increasedIG Operations Amol V Homkar said polling was peaceful despite 7851 booths being in the critical category and 2249 in the extreme critical category out of a total of 15334 boothsA total of 600 companies of central armed forces 60 companies of Jharkhand Armed Police 15291 personnel of state armed forces and 14000 homeguards were deputed in view of sensitivity and Naxal menace he said adding that monitoring was being done through flying squads besides special communication system was established for 286 booths where communication was a challengeA total of 683 candidates 609 men 73 women and one of the third are trying their luck in the 43 seats These seats are divided into 17 general 20 reserved for Scheduled Tribes and six for Scheduled CastesFormer chief minister and BJP candidate Champai Soren is pitted against JMM rival Ganesh Mahali in Seraikela seat while the exCMs son Babulal Soren is contesting from Ghatsila against JMM candidate and Jharkhand cabinet minister Ram Das SorenFormer CM Madhu Kodas wife and exMP Geeta Kora is trying her luck from Jagannathpur on a BJP ticket against sitting Congress MLA Sona Ram Sinku In Potka former Union minister and exCM Arjun Mundas wife Meera Munda is contesting against sitting JMM MLA Sanjib SardarCongress leader Rameshwar Oraon is up against AJSUs Shanti Bhagat in Lohardaga and JDUs Saryu Roy is facing Congresss Banna Gupta in Jamshedpur WestPrime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed two rallies in the state during the day attacked the Congress a constituent of Jharkhands ruling coalition accusing its shehzada of conspiring to scrap reservations for people belonging to SC ST and OBC communities in an attempt to weaken themHe also alleged that the ruling JMMled alliance helped infiltrators become permanent citizens of the stateJharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on the other side accused the BJP of maligning his and the states image through shadow campaigns an allegation that the saffron camp dismissed claiming the JMM leader had already conceded defeat in the assembly pollsSoren alleged that the saffron camp has been spending crores of money on various social media platforms and created 95000 WhatsApp groups to campaign against the JMMled coalition in the stateAt various booths prominent persons cast their votes including Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and former team India captain Mahendra Singh DhoniBesides during the day Odisha Governor Raghubar Das former chief minister Champai Soren and JDU candidate from Jamshedpur West seat and Saryu Roy were among those who cast their votes in the first phase of assembly electionsWhile the JMMled coalition is seeking to retain power riding on its welfare schemes including Maiyan Samman Yojna the BJP has been campaigning with its aggressive Hindutva agenda infiltration and alleged corruption by the current dispensationThe second phase of voting will take place on November 20 and counting is scheduled for November 23In the 2019 elections the JMM secured 30 seats the BJP won 25 and the JMMled alliance with Congress and RJD won a majority with 47 seats The current assembly consists of 74 members with the JMMled coalition holding 26 seats Congress 17 and RJD oneThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever