The first round of assembly elections in Jharkhand begins today, with voting from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. In this phase, voters in 43 seats will select their representatives, with around 13.7 million people casting their votes.
In this initial phase, 683 candidates are competing, including 609 male candidates, 73 female candidates, and one third-gender candidate. The Election Commission has set up 15,000 polling stations to facilitate voting.
Jharkhand Police, along with BSF and CRPF, are ensuring security across polling locations. The Bharatiya Janata Party is challenging the JMM-Congress alliance in key constituencies.
Top candidates in this phase include BJP’s Champai Soren in Shadokkala, JMM’s Mahua Majhi in Ranchi, Congress’s Banna Gupta in Jamshedpur, BJP’s Geeta Koda in Jagannathpur, Congress’s Ajay Kumar in Jamshedpur East, and JMM’s Sukhram Oraon in Chakradharpur.
Purnima Das Sahu, the daughter-in-law of former Jharkhand Chief Minister and current Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, is contesting from Jamshedpur East. With over 2 million Orthodox voters, their votes are likely to be decisive in this election phase.