Jharkhand Assembly Elections: BJP, JMM, Congress in Fray as Voting For Phase 1 Begins Shortly

Ranchi: Jharkhand is all set for polling in 43 out of 81 assembly seats in the first phase on Wednesday. The electoral fate of 683 candidates, including former chief minister Champai Soren and former MP Geeta Kora, will be locked in the ballot boxes. Polling is scheduled to begin at 7 am in 43 assembly constituencies across 15 districts and will continue until 5 pm. However, in 950 booths, voting will end at 4 pm, but people standing in the queue at that time will still be able to exercise their franchise.The JMM-led coalition is seeking to retain power in a tough contest with BJP -led NDA by riding on its welfare schemes, including Maiyan Samman Yojana. The saffron party has raised the election pitch through an aggressive Hindutva pitch, including infiltration and corruption by the current dispensation.Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Union Home Minister Amit Shah , Defence Minister Rajnath Singh , BJP chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath , and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma , held a number of rallies where they attacked the JMM-led coalition over corruption and Bangladeshi infiltration.The leaders from the INDI Alliance, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi , Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and his wife and legislator Kalpana Soren, campaigned, promising welfare schemes and accusing the BJP-led Centre of "unleashing" all central agencies, including ED, CBI, and I-T, against the opposition.A total of 1.37 crore voters out of the total 2.60 crore are eligible to participate in the voting on Wednesday. Of the 683 candidates, 609 are men and 73 are women. On the other hand, out of the 43 seats, 17 are reserved for general category candidates, 20 for Scheduled Tribes (ST), and six for Scheduled Castes (SC).A total of 15,344 polling stations have been set up for the first phase of elections. Of those, 12,716 are located in rural areas, and 2,628 are in urban areas. Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said all preparations for voting have been completed, and polling personnel have reached the stations. The second phase of elections will be held on November 20 while the votes will be counted on November 23.In the 2019 assembly elections, the contest was close, with the JMM winning 30 seats and the BJP securing 25, down from 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.Currently, the strength of the assembly stands at 74, with the JMM-led ruling alliance comprising 44 members -- 26 from the JMM, 17 from Congress, and one from RJD.

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Jharkhand Assembly Elections: BJP, JMM, Congress in Fray as Voting For Phase 1 Begins Shortly

The electoral fate of 683 candidates, including former chief minister Champai Soren and former MP Geeta Kora, will be locked in the ballot boxes.

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