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Jharkhand Assembly Polls 2019 Phase 3: Several Bigwigs In Fray Today; Polling On 17 Seats Underway

The seats where polling will be held are Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Barkagaon, Ramgarh, Mandu, Hazaribag, Simaria (SC), Dhanwar, Gomia, Bermo, Ichagarh, Silli, Khijri (ST), Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke (SC).

By : ABP News Bureau | Updated at : 12 Dec 2019 09:41 AM (IST)

Jharkhand Assembly Polls 2019: Phase-3 Voting On Thursday As Several Bigwigs In Fray Jharkhand Assembly Polls 2019 Phase 3: Several Bigwigs In Fray Today; Polling On 17 Seats Underway

Jharkhand is not set to witness third of the five-phase polling for 17 constituencies.

17 seats are spread across Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Bokaro, Koderma and Saraikela.

56.18 lakh electorate are eligible to decide the fate of 309 candidates.

Ranchi/ New Delhi: Polling for the third phase of the Assembly elections in Jharkhand began on Thursday at 7 am in 17 constituencies. Fate of several bigwigs of the state who are in the fray will be decided today. This phase of voting is said to crucial for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and other regional parties as several heavyweight candidates are in the fray. The campaigning for the third phase of Assembly polls ended on Tuesday evening. With around 40,000 polling personnel deputed to conduct smooth and peaceful voting, the process started on Thurday morning. A total of 309 candidates including 32 women candidates are contesting on 17 seats. According to the Election Commissions latest updated list of voters about 56.18 lakh electorate, including male, female and third gender voters, are eligible to decide the fate of 309 candidates, including 32 women nominees in the 17 constituencies. "In all, 7016 polling stations have been set up to conduct smooth polling," an EC release said. The electorate include a total of 26,80,205 women and 86 third gender voters. The voting will commence at 7 am and end at 5 pm on Thursday at Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Barkatha and Ramgarh seats while voters in the rest of the constituencies can exercise their franchise between 7 am and 3 pm, Election Commission officials said. The momentum for the polls in the third phase has gained pace with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing two rallies in Hazaribagh and Bokaro on December 9. Of the 17 seats, the BJP, JMM and Congress had won 10, three and two seats, respectively in the 2014 Assembly polls. Seventeen seats are spread across Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Bokaro, Koderma and Saraikela. Among these seats, voting will be held on five seats namely Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Ramgarh and Barkatha from 7 am to 5 pm while in the remaining 12 seats, voters will be able to vote between 7 am to 3 pm, news agency IANS reported.

#TeamRanchi is all set for 3rd round of voting.
Polling parties being dispatched to their respective clusters for tomorrow's voting. Ranchi, Kanke, Hatia, Silli & Khijri ACs will vote on 12.12.2019. @ceojharkhand @SpokespersonECI #GoVoteRanchi #RanchiVotes #VoteParv pic.twitter.com/XPbCGTvF4F — DC Ranchi (@DC_Ranchi) December 11, 2019

Speaking about the arrangements, Chief Election Officer told news agency PTI that the polling personnel of 626 polling stations will return to their respective district headquarters the next day (Friday) and arrangements of CCTV and double-lock strong rooms have been made. He added if any political parties desired to send their agents to stay there could do so. The CEO said that there are 13,504 ballot units, 8,772 controlling units and 9,123 VVPAT in the 17 seats with double ballot units being set up in nine of the constituencies as there are sixteen or more candidates in the fray. A total of 2,014 polling stations have webcasting facilities, 329 model polling stations and 44 polling stations will be conducted by women polling personnel, he said. Out of the total 7,016 polling stations set up for the third-phase, 1,008 are marked as ‘critical’ and 543 ‘sensitive’ in Naxal-affected areas. While 1,119 polling stations are ‘critical’ and 2,672 polling stations are ‘sensitive’ in the non-Naxal affected areas, he added.

Polling officials checking the Electronic Voting Machine #EVMs and other necessary inputs required for the #JharkhandAssemblyElection, at a distribution centre, in #Ranchi pic.twitter.com/N2FwKdIzRM
— PIB India (@PIB_India) December 11, 2019

The seats where polling will be held are Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Barkagaon, Ramgarh, Mandu, Hazaribag, Simaria (SC), Dhanwar, Gomia, Bermo, Ichagarh, Silli, Khijri (ST), Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke (SC), an EC release said. Among the candidates, former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi, Urban Development Minister C P Singh and Education Minister Neera Yadav are in the electoral battle. Ranchi Assembly seat has been the traditional stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yashwant Sinha had won the seat on a BJP ticket in 1995. He resigned from the Assembly after being elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996. C.P. Singh is locked in a direct fight with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Mahua Majhi. Former chief minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) President Babulal Marandi is contesting from Dhanwar seat and is locked in a triangular fight with sitting CPI-ML Legislator Rajkumar Yadav and BJP candidate and former IPS officer Lakshman Prasad. The first phase of the election in the state took place on November 30 while the second round was held on December 7. The voting for the third phase will be conducted on December 12, the fourth phase on December 16, and the fifth and last phase on December 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 23. (With inputs from agencies)

Published at : 11 Dec 2019 11:02 PM (IST)

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Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019 Jharkhand Election 2019 Assembly Election 2019 Election 2019