17.72 pc polling in mayoral polls

A mere 17.72 per cent voting was recorded in Ranchi Mayoral polls today, a sharp decline from the scrapped April 8 polls last year.
The counting will be taken up on June 27, State Election Commission (SEC) sources said here.
In all, 14 candidates were in the fray, including Rama Khalkho, who had also contested the originally scheduled polls as an incumbent when 38 percent polling was registered.
But the election was cancelled by the SEC following the seizure of Rs 21.9 lakh from a city hotel on April 7 last year.
Subsequently, an FIR was filed against Khalkho and others after CCTV footage purportedly showed them inside that hotel and she absconded after arrest warrants were issued on April 9 last year.

Khalko surrendered to a lower court on June 4 that year and secured bail from the Jharkhand High Court on November 11.