Ranchi, May 31 (PTI) Over 53.23 lakh voters will decide the fate of 52 candidates in three Lok Sabha seats in the Santhal Pargana region of Jharkhand, where polling will be held in the last phase on Saturday, officials said.
Tight security arrangements have been made for conducting the elections to Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda seats in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Nineteen candidates each are in the fray in Dumka and Godda, while Rajmahal has 14 contestants. Over 26.23 lakh women and 33 persons belonging to the third gender are among the candidates eligible to exercise their franchise.
Over 2 lakh electors are first-time voters in the age group of 18-19, while 439 electors are aged over 100 years.
Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), K Ravi Kumar told PTI, “All preparations have been made to hold free and fair elections to the three Lok Sabha constituencies. In view of hot weather conditions, instructions have been issued to officials concerned to ensure basic facilities at all polling stations.” He said that voting will start at 7 am at 6,258 polling stations and will continue till 5 pm on Saturday.
Critical booths have been identified where central forces would be deployed, besides other areas. Polling parties have been dispatched to their respective locations, he said.
Of the total polling stations, 241 will be managed by women and seven by persons with disabilities (PwD). Webcasting facilities will be available in all polling stations, he said.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP bagged Dumka and Godda seats while the JMM secured the Rajmahal seat.
In Dumka, BJP candidate Sita Soren, sister-in-law of jailed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, has locked horns with INDIA bloc’s Nalin Soren, who is Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA from Shikaripara assembly seat.
Sita Soren, a three-term JMM legislator, joined the BJP in New Delhi on March 20, citing “isolation” and “neglect” by the JMM since the death of her husband Durga Soren in 2009.
The Rajmahal Lok Seat is likely to witness a triangular fight as JMM’s Borio legislator Lobin Hembrom is contesting the seat as an Independent candidate against sitting JMM MP Vijay Hansdak.
As per the seat-sharing agreement in the ruling alliance in Jharkhand, the Rajmahal seat went to JMM, which has fielded its sitting MP Hansdak. The BJP has pitched its former state president Tala Marandi from the seat.
The Godda seat is set for a direct fight between the BJP’s three-time MP Nishikant Dubey and Congress’s Pradip Yadav as the INDIA bloc candidate.
Of the 52 candidates, 10 have declared criminal cases against them in their affidavits while filing nomination papers.
Senior leaders of both NDA and INDIA bloc had left no stone unturned to draw people’s support in favour of them in the final phase.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a rally in Dumka seeking votes for all three party candidates in Santhal Pargana region. BJP president JP Nadda, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Mohan Yadav have also canvassed.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana and top state Congress leaders have also campaigned extensively for INDIA bloc candidates.
Polling in Jharkhand commenced on May 13 in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Singhbhum, Khunti, Lohardaga, and Palamu, where 66.01 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
The second round of polling in the state on May 20 for Chatra, Koderma, and Hazaribag Lok Sabha seats saw 64.39 per cent turnout.
On May 25, a 67.68 per cent turnout was recorded in the third phase of polling in the state in four Lok Sabha seats of Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi, and Jamshedpur.
A total of 244 candidates — 212 men, 31 women and 1 transgender — are in the fray in the 14 Lok Sabha seats.
Of the 14 Lok Sabha seats, BJP had won 11 constituencies, while AJSU Party, Congress and JMM had won one seat each in the 2019 polls. PTI SAN SAN ACD
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.