The second phase of polling in 38 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand will begin from 7 am on Wednesday, an Election official said.
State Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said that polling in these 38 assembly constituencies will be held from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm on November 20, while voting will end at 4.00 pm in 31 polling stations of these constituencies.
A total of 528 candidates including 472 men, 55 women, and one from the third gender are in fray.
Prominent leaders contesting in this phase are Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Berhait, state BJP president and former CM Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar, ex-Deputy CM Sudesh Mahto (AJSU-P) from Silli, Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM) from Bala.
Besides, there are other influential contestants like Kalpana Soren (JMM) from Gandey, JMM chief Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren (BJP) from Jamtara, Louis Marandi (JMM) from Jama and Lobin Hembram (BJP) from Borrio.
In the second phase, 585 companies of paramilitary forces and 60 companies of JAP have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling in 38 assembly constituencies.
The CEO said that there are 1.23 crore voters in the second phase, of which 62.8 lakh are male, 61 lakh female and 145 voters are third gender. At the same time, 55,000 young voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years will vote. More than 50,000 voters above 85 years of age will exercise their franchise tomorrow.
Polling for 43 constituencies in the state took place in the first phase on November 13.
The votes will be counted alongside those of the Maharashtra Assembly polls on November 23.
