Campaigning ends for second phase of LS polls in Jharkhand

Campaigning for the four Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the second phase of elections in Jharkhand on May 6 came to an end on Saturday evening.

A total of 65,87,028 electorate will decide the fate of 61 candidates.

Among the total electorate, 31,44,679 are female voters and 83 belong to the third gender, the Election Commission said in a release here.

Polling will be held between 7 am and 4 pm in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Khunti (ST) Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday.

Union minister Jayant Sinha is seeking re-election from the Hazaribagh constituency as a BJP candidate.

Congress candidate Gopal Sahu is pitted against him.

Two-time MP and CPIs Jharkhand unit secretary B P Mehta is also in the fray from Hazaribagh.

The BJP has fielded former chief minister Arjun Munda from Khunti, Sanjay Seth from Ranchi and Annapurna Devi from Koderma, replacing its sitting MPs Karia Munda, Ramtahal Chaudhary and Ravindra Rai respectively.

Annapurna Devi, who quit the RJD and joined the BJP on March 25, is facing Mahagathbandhans Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) president Babulal Marandi and CPI (ML- Liberation) MLA Raj Kumar Yadav from Koderma.

Seth is taking on former union minister and Congress candidate Subodh Kant Sahay from Ranchi, where the five-time BJP MP, Ramtahal Choudhary, is also contesting as an independent after being denied ticket by the BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi canvassed for Annapurna Devi from Koderma while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed Hazaribagh people through a video conference from Lucknow as he could not reach the constituency on Friday.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed the people of Khunti and sought their votes for party candidate Kalicharan Munda.

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

The EC release said that total number of polling personnel for the second phase polling is 39,909 and the number of micro observers will be 1,191.

Out of a total of 8,834 polling stations, 105 will be manned by women polling personnel.

At least 918 polling stations out of the total will have webcasting facility.

The first phase of polling in Jharkhand was held in three Lok Sabha seats - Lohardaga (ST), Palamu (SC) and Chatraon - on April 29.