Jharkhand Election 2019: Fate Of 189 Candidates In Fray As Phase 1 Voting Begins On Saturday

Campaigning for the first phase of vote in the Jharkhand Assembly polls ended on Thursday evening and November 30 will witness voting in 13 Assembly constituencies, spread over six Maoist-hit districts.

November 30 will witness voting in 13 Assembly constituencies, spread over six Maoist-hit districts. (Representative Image/ AFP)

Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: The five-phased Assembly elections for Jharkhand is all set to begin from Saturday, November 30 with as many as 13 seats in the state is battle-ready to elected its government as the five-year Legislative assembly term is about to end.  Campaigning for the first phase of vote in the Jharkhand Assembly polls ended on Thursday evening and November 30 will witness voting in 13 Assembly constituencies, spread over six Maoist-hit districts. According to the Elections Commission data, the fate of 189 candidates will be decided by 37,83,055 voters in this phase. The maximum number of candidates, 28, are contesting the Bhavanthpur seat. Total electorates include 18,01,356 women and five third gender voters of Chatra (SC), Gumla (ST), Bishunpur (ST), Lohardaga (ST), Manika (SC), Latehar (SC), Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur (SC), Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur constituencies which will decide the fate of these candidates. A total of 228 candidates had filed their nomination papers for polls in the first phase. "Twenty-two nomination papers were rejected after scrutiny on Friday, while 17 candidates withdrew their nomination on Saturday," an Election Commission release had said earlier. Chief Minister Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to face tough competition from the opposition alliance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the five-phase polling. The opposition alliance has fielded joint candidates in all 13 constituencies with Congress contesting six seats, JMM four and RJD three. However, the saffron party has fielded canidates in in 12 constituencies and extended support to Vinod Kumar Singh in Hussainabad. Chatra has the least number of candidates in the fray while Bhawanathpur has the most. Notable candidates in the fray are former BJP chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore in Chhatarpur seat on AJSU Party ticket, former minister Bhanu Pratap Sahi in Bhawanathpur constituency on a BJP ticket and sitting JMM MLA Chamra Linda in Bishunpur seat. The prominent names in this round of vote include, Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Congress state chief Rameshwar Oraon and former Minister and Rs 136 crore medicine scam accused Bhanu Pratap Shahi (BJP). On the last day of the campaigning, Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah addressed two rallies at Chatra and Garwah and criticised the Congress for delaying abrogation of Article 370 and the Ram temple dispute resolution. Jharkhand will go to polls in five phases. The first phase of polling will be held on November 30, the second phase on December 6, the third phase on December 12, the fourth phase on December 16 and the last phase on December 20. The results will be declared on December 23. In 2014, the BJP, which won 43 seats in the 81 members Legislative Assembly, formed the government along with All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU), which had won 5 seats under the leadership of Raghubar Das.