Campaigning ends for Jharkhand civic polls; voting on 23 February

The election will be held on February 23 and votes will be counted on February 27, a State Election Commission official said

The campaigning for the polling to Jharkhand's 48 urban local bodies (ULB), including Ranchi, concluded on Saturday evening, a State Election Commission official said.

The election will be held on February 23 and votes will be counted on February 27, he said.

"The campaigning for the urban local body polls ended at 5 pm on Saturday. The polling will take place on February 23 from 7am to 5pm," SEC Secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad told PTI.

He said that the 48-hour 'silence period' started from 5pm on Saturday, during which all forms of campaigning are banned.

"Under the rules, no person shall call, organise, or attend any public meeting for a period of 48 hours before the time fixed for the close of poll. This provision came into effect at 5 pm today," Prasad said.

 

The candidates made their last-ditch efforts to garner people's supports in their favour on Saturday.

The elections are scheduled to be held for the post of 48 mayors or chairpersons and councillors at 1,087 wards in nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats, he said.

As many as 562 candidates including 235 women, are in fray for post of mayor or chairperson, while 5,569 candidates 2,727 are contesting for the post of ward councillors.

A total of 41 councillors were already elected unopposed, while three wards remained vacant as no nomination was received from the respective wards, the official said.

Over 43.33 lakh voters, including 21.26 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections.

ULB polls in Jharkhand are not contested on the electoral symbols of the political parties, but candidates are backed by the outfits.

A total of 4,304 polling booths have set up to hold the elections. Of the total polling booths, 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.