Campaigning ended in the four lok Sabha constituencies in the Jharkhand —Chatra, Koderma, Palamu and lohardaga — 48 hours before they go to polls on April 10.
Fate of 62 candidates will be decided by more than 56 lakh voters during the first phase of polls in the State.Authorities as well as police have taken adequate steps to conduct free and fair elections in the four Naxal-affected areas of the State. Elections Commission has identified 213 polling stations as model polling stations during first phase of polling in the State.
"The poll campaign in the four constituencies came to an end at 4 pm on Tuesday following which putting banners and posters by the candidate will not be allowed," said Deputy Chief Electoral Officer KK Soan. Public relations drive could however be continued till the polling day, added Soan.
"Out of 7,058 polling stations during the first phase of polling in the State, 213 of them have been identified as model polling stations," added Soan.The district administrations of the four lok Sabha constituencies have also sought help of NCC and Home Guard personnel for additional security backups at the election booths. A special team has also been engaged to look for IEDs planted by the ultra outfit under 22 police station areas of the extremism-hit district.
"Sufficient number of paramilitary forces have been deployed at each hyper sensitive booth and sensitive booth identified earlier by the police force as well as the district administration," said IG and Jharkhand Police Spokesperson Anurag Gupta.Gupta said, "To create a suitable atmosphere for voting in the far-flung areas in the four constituencies, security forces have been sent 2-3 days in advance to the cluster areas."
As many as seven choppers of State Government, CRPF as well as BSF are to keep a close vigil during the first phase of polls in the State, he added. These choppers could also be used for air-dropping the polling personnel to the worst hit clusters, he added.
Palamu, being the worst Naxal hit constituency in the State have the maximum number of hyper sensitive booths."Out of the total 1322 polling booths in Palamu, 500 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 600 as sensitive ones," said Palamu DC Kripanand Jha.Jha also said that 30 polling stations in Palamu have been identified as model polling stations which will be having some basic civil amenities like drinking water and sitting arrangements also.
According to Jha, greater people's participation is expected this time after extensive exercise done by the district administration under Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.
"The polling percentage of this leftwing extremist-hit district was only 46 percent during 2009 lS election but this time we expect that it could go up to 65 percent," said Jha. School children are being asked by their teachers to persuade their parents and other family members to exercise their franchise on Thursday, he added.
To keep a close vigil on the polling process, one control room has been established while para-medicals at cluster level have also been deployed to provide medical assistance during the polls.
As many as 128 micro observers have been deployed in the constituency and video recording of over 300 polling booths will be done to check any rigging during the polls. Two companies of Border Security Force personnel would also be deployed to maintain law and order during the polling, he said.Prominent faces seeking votes for them include former DGP VD Ram from Palamu on a BJP ticket, while BJP State president Ravindra Rai is fighting from Koderma.