Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Jharkhand, K Ravi Kumar has said that after the completion of polling in 43 assembly seats in the first phase, EVMs, VVPATs etc. have reached the strong rooms and have been sealed.

Kumar said that three-tier security arrangements have been made for the strong rooms. One company of paramilitary forces is deployed to protect the strong rooms of all 15 districts, he said.

The CEO thanked the voters for the peaceful polling in the first phase and said that re-polling is not being held at any booth. He said that polling in rural areas was as expected, but there was less polling in urban areas. Keeping in mind the future elections, the Election Commission will work with a focus on increasing the voting percentage in urban areas, although this time there has been 3 percent more voting than the 2019 assembly elections. He was speaking at a press conference at Nirvachan Sadan, Dhurwa on Thursday.

Kumar said that the percentage of voting in 43 seats was 66.48. "A slight increase is expected at the end of poll data. At the same time, there will be a partial increase in the voting percentage after the complete data of postal ballots is received. He said that a total of ten cases have been registered in various cases on the day of voting. One case each has been registered in Kanke, Hatia and Ranchi, four in Jamshedpur East, two in Jamshedpur West and one in Palamu. In response to a question, he said that even while the Election Commission's model code of conduct is in effect, there is no ban on the implementation of the already running scheme," he said.

The CEO said that since the implementation of the model code of conduct in the state, illegal material and cash worth more than Rs 2 billion 13 crores has been seized by various agencies.