Last update:November 19, 2024, 10:00 p.m. IST

Polling is expected to begin at 7 a.m. at 14,218 polling stations and will continue until 5 p.m. except for 31 polling booths where it will end at 4 p.m.

Election officials with EVMs and other election materials board a helicopter in Jharkhand. (photo from PTI file)

The stage is set for the second and final round of the election battle between ruling bloc INDIA and the NDA, as Jharkhand prepares to vote for 38 of the 81 Assembly seats on Wednesday.

This phase will decide the electoral fate of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren (both JMM) and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri (BJP), along with over 500 other candidates.

Polling is expected to begin at 7 a.m. at 14,218 polling stations and will continue until 5 p.m., except for 31 polling booths where it will end at 4 p.m.

During the election campaign, the NDA attacked the JMM-led coalition over allegations of infiltration from Bangladesh and corruption of leaders, including the CM who is out on bail. The BJP-led alliance also raised the issue of Hindutva.

The ruling regime, on the other hand, tried to woo voters by promising welfare schemes and accusing the BJP of spending Rs 500 crore on “malicious campaigns” against the CM who is a “tribal leader”.

Eighteen of the 38 constituencies are in the Santhal Pargana region and comprise six districts: Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur. The NDA claimed during the election campaign that large-scale infiltration took place in Santhal Pargana during the last five years of the JMM-led regime.

A total of 1.23 crore voters, including 60.79 lakh women and 147 third gender voters, are eligible to vote on Wednesday. In total, 528 candidates – 472 men, 55 women and one person of the third gender – are in the running.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar said all preparations for voting have been completed and polling staff at all polling booths have been dispatched peacefully.

Top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP feature JP Nadda and chief ministers of several states in their target Hemant Soren who spent five months in prison in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

They also removed Champai Soren as CM soon after Hemant Soren was released on bail in June, with a major poll claiming a tribe had been insulted by the JMM.

Champai Soren later joined the BJP and contested the Assembly elections.

INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and his wife and lawmaker Kalpana Soren, also campaigned intensively, promising welfare schemes and blaming the Center-led the BJP to “unleash” the ED and the CBI against the rival parties.

Besides CM Soren and his wife, among the prominent candidates in this round are BJP president and ex-CM Babulal Marandi, Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM) and BJP ally AJSU party chief , Sudesh Mahto.

There are 28 seats reserved for ST candidates and nine for SC candidates.

Among the SC seats, JMM won 2, BJP 6 and RJD 1 in the 2019 polls. In reserved ST seats, JMM won 19 seats, Congress 6, BJP 2 and JVM(P ) 1.

This time, as far as the NDA is concerned, the BJP has fielded candidates in 68 seats while its allies AJSU Party has 10, JD(U) in two and Lok Janshakti (Ram Vilas) in one.

In the INDIA bloc, the JMM fielded candidates for 43 seats, the Congress 30, the RJD 6 and the CPI(ML) 4 with friendly fights for some seats.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the fight was close, with the JMM winning 30 seats and the BJP 25, compared to 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.

Since the implementation of the model code of conduct, around Rs 200 crore worth of illegal materials and cash have been seized, which is the highest in the recent past, the CEO said.

Kumar said 90 cases relating to violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) had been registered.

Out of a total of 14,218 polling stations, the responsibility for the entire voting process in 239 polling stations will be in the hands of women while 22 polling booths will be manned by persons with disabilities, the CEO said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)