Campaign ends in Jharkhand for last phase of elections

Campaigning for the last phase of polling in Jharkhand came to a close at 4 pm on Friday where polling will be held in three Lok Sabha seats on Sunday.

A total number of 45, 64, 681, including 22,00,119 female and 21 third gender voters, will decide the fate of 42 candidates, an Election Commission of India (ECI) release said here.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm, an ECI official said, adding, Dumka (ST), Rajmahal (ST) and Godda are the constituencies going for polls on Sunday.

A total of 15 candidates are in the fray from Dumka, 14 candidates from Rajmahal and 13 candidates from Godda. In Dumka, eight-time MP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president Shibu Soren is being challenged by BJP's Sunil Soren.

He had lost to the former chief minister in 2014 and 2009 from the same constituency.

Sitting BJP MP Nishikant Dubey is taking on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) MLA Pradip Yadav, who is backed by the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance), in Godda.

JMM's sitting MLA Vijay Kumar Hansda is facing BJP's Hemlal Murmu in Rajmahal. Murmu had been a minister in the past during Shibu Soren-led government and he joined the BJP in 2014.

He had lost to Vijay Kumar Hansda last time.

The JMM and the Congress are part of the "Mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) in Jharkhand.

Adequate security arrangements have been made to conduct free, fair and peaceful elections, the police said.

The ECI release said a total of 6,258 polling stations have been set up for the last phase of elections.

Polling for 11 out of the 14 LS constituencies in Jharkhand was held on April 29, May 6 and May 12.