Jharkhand Assembly elections: EC team reviews poll preparedness in Ranchi

The Election Commission team led by its chief Sunil Arora on Thursday reviewed poll preparations in Ranchi with the Chief Secretary, the Director-General of Police and other enforcement agencies of the state.

On Wednesday, the poll body team held a series of meetings with various political party leaders and civil administration.

"We held a meeting with the political parties because they are the biggest stakeholders after voters. We have also met the state officials such as DG, IG, DM and also some regulatory agencies such as Income Tax, Railways, Postal department," Arora said at a presser here.

Talking about the preparation done by the poll body for the upcoming state assembly elections, the chief electoral officer said that special attention has been given for making arrangements for the disabled voters.

"For disabled voters, we have made special arrangements for this category. It was one of our priorities. Some of the leaders also suggested that NGOs should be roped in to create awareness among the disabled about the importance of voting. This time we have appointed Divisional commissioners to contact with the disabled," he added.

He also talked about the preparations to combat the menace of Naxalism during the election period, saying, "Jharkhand has received special help from the Centre for the same. There was a report that out of 16 districts of Jharkhand, 13 are affected by Left Wing. The state has got as much as Rs 340 crores for the same."

In his concluding remarks, he stated that the noose has been tightened around the use of money power during electioneering and "investigation will be carried out against those found guilty."

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.

The Congress has forged an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the state to defeat the incumbent BJP.

In 2014, the BJP, which won 43 seats, formed the government along with All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU), which had won 5 seats under the leadership of Raghubar Das.