As many as 14 candidates from Rajmahal, 15 from Dumka and 13 from Godda will contest in the final phase of General Elections in Jharkhand, a press communiqué from the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office said on Thursday, the final day for withdrawal of nominations for the aforementioned three parliamentary constituencies.
Only one candidate withdrew his nomination from Rajmahal constituency, while all the candidates who cleared the scrutiny in Dumka and Godda went ahead with their plans of contesting the elections.
While Rajmahal and Dumka are set to witness a head on contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Godda will see a contest between the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik and BJP.
In Rajmahal, BJP’s Hemlal Murmu, a former legislator, is set to take on JMM’s Vijay Kumar Hansdak. BJP’s Sunil Soren will challenge the incumbency of JMM Supremo Shibu Soren in Dumka, while JVM-P’s former minister Pradeep Yadav will take on BJP’s Nishikant Dubey in Godda.
The three constituencies will go to polls on May 19. In 2014, the BJP won 12 of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand while JMM won the remaining two, one of which was Dumka, a JMM stronghold.
The CEO’s office on Thursday also announced the final poll percentage in the three constituencies –Chatra, Lohardaga, Palamu—that voted on April 29.
As per figures released by the ECI, at least 64.95 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the first phase of elections in Jharkhand. Chatra witnessed a poll percentage of 64.85, while 66.23 per cent voters cast their votes in Lohardaga. Palamu saw a poll percentage of 64.24. Participation in polling witnessed a surge of 7.48 per cent in these three constituencies in comparison with the last elections held in 2014. In the 16th General Elections, the average poll percentage in these three constituencies was 57.47.