Ranchi, Feb 23 (PTI) Sixty-two per cent of the 43 lakh odd voters exercised their franchise in the civic polls to 48 urban local bodies in Jharkhand on Monday, election officials said.
Barring a few incidents of violence, including a firing that left two persons injured, the election passed off peacefully across the state, they said.
Polling commenced at 7 am amid tight security and concluded at 5 pm. Votes will be counted on February 27.
“Voter turnout of 62 per cent was recorded. Polling has been peaceful,” State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad said.
Seraikela Nagar Panchayat recorded the highest turnout of 74.86 per cent, while Ranchi Municipal Corporation registered the lowest at 43.35 per cent, followed by Dhanbad Municipal Corporation at 46.98 per cent.
Over 43 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 6,000-plus candidates.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his Kalpana Soren, an MLA from Gandey assembly constituency, exercised their franchise at a booth in St Paul Kuldeep High School in Ranchi’s Harmu area.
“Civic poll is part of our democratic system where we elect our local representative. We have exercised our franchise here,” Soren told reporters after casting his vote.
Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar cast his vote at a booth in Ranchi’s ATI Building. “Polling is an important part of democracy. We should all vote. People have the choice to elect representatives. We should have interest in electing people who think of our area and the state, and keep localities clean,” Gangwar told reporters.
Union Minister of State for Defence, Sanjay Seth, exercised his franchise at a booth in Kaju Bagan area of Ranchi.
State Election Commissioner (SEC) Alka Tiwari exercised her franchise at ward number 40 in Ranchi.
Long queues of voters, especially women, were seen since morning at most polling stations. However, in two major municipal corporation areas — Ranchi and Dhanbad — fewer electors had turned up to cast their votes.
Chaos and minor clashes were reported from several parts of the state.
Supporters of two candidates clashed at a booth in Town police station area of Giridih district, which was brought under control by the police.
An incident of firing took place at ward number-18 in Azad Nagar area of the district, in which two persons were injured.
“An incident of firing took place in Azad Nagar area and two persons received bullet injuries. But the incident happened after the polling got over at 5 pm. There was no disturbance in the polling process. We will investigate the incident and based on the fact, action will be taken,” Giridih Deputy Commissioner Ram Niwas Yadav said.
A minor clash was reported at booth 32 in Chas Municipal Corporation area in Bokaro district, while in Ranchi, a scuffle occurred between supporters of rival candidates in Hindpiri area.
A voter, Rajesh Sinha, said he could not exercise his franchise, as his name was not on the voter list.
“My booth was at Kairali School, Dhurwa. I was given a slip mentioning my name and room number outside the booth. As I entered the booth, the poll officials did not find my name in the actual voter list, while it was available on the election commission’s site. I was not allowed to vote,” Sinha told PTI.
He claimed that several other voters also faced a scenario like his.
In Pakur, which has a substantial Muslim population, women lined up at polling stations in large numbers to exercise their franchise in the month of Ramzan, when many believers fast during daytime.
Prasad said the elections were held for the posts of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, and councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats.
As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray for the posts of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting the posts of ward councillors.
Prasad said adequate security arrangements were made in all the booths.
A total of 4,307 polling booths were set up for the elections. Of these, 896 identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.
ULB polls in Jharkhand are not contested on the electoral symbols of the political parties, but candidates are backed by the outfits.
The ruling JMM and Congress, and the main opposition BJP claimed victories for the candidates they supported.
JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “The results of the polls would be encouraging for us, while it will be a lesson for the BJP.” Congress general secretary Alok Kumar Dubey thanked the SEC for holding the civic polls using ballot papers.
“The demand to conduct Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections across the country using ballot papers continues to rise, and Jharkhand took an initiative in this direction,” he said.
Jharkhand BJP president Aditya Sahu accused the state administration of helping with bogus voting in several places.
“Voters of urban local bodies voted against the conspiracy of the state government. I thanked them for supporting the BJP-backed candidates in the election,” he said. PTI SAN MNB ACD NN
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