As many as 15 constituencies will vote for the next representative for Jharkhand Assembly in the fourth phase of elections on Sunday. The elections are as much a test for the candidates in the fray as for the administration due to the presence of ultras in certain constituencies with the baggage of past incidents that discourages voters to take part in democratic processes.
A total of 43,46,473 voters, including 23,42,954 male and 20,03,516 female voters, will be exercising their franchise in the 15 constituencies with Bokaro being the largest constituency in terms of voters where as Chandankyari the smallest among all the constituencies.
"Requisite strength of forces have been deployed and all precautionary measures have been taken to ensure free and fair polls (in the 15 constituencies going to polls today)," said Chief Electoral Officer of Jharkhand PK Jajoria.
The elections are a challenge for the State administration due to terrain and prevalence of ultras especially in Giridih and parts of Bokaro where recently a huge cache of explosive was recovered by police. As many as 716 booths have been declared as hypersensitive and 2007 as sensitive due to fear of disruptions in poll activities from CPI-Maoist's end. About three helicopters will be used to make 104 polling officials overcome the problems in commuting to four cluster points in their journey to 52 polling stations.
As many as 217 candidates are trying their luck from the 15 constituencies, including JVM chief Babulal Marandi, who is contesting from Giridih. Marandi will be competing against sitting MlA and once a JVM man Nirbhay Kumar Shahabadi. Notably, Shahabadi and six other JVM legislators had joined Bharatiya Janta Party in August.
Interestingly, phase-IV is more crucial for the JVM as the Babulal Marandi-led party had won five seats in 2009 of the constituencies that are going to poll on Sunday and with the en-masse exit of several sitting MlAs the party is likely to struggle to maintain sway in its favour. Besides, the JVM was also in a strong position in few constituencies where its candidates' performance had been as better as the winner.
The Election Commission of India has allowed use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in Dhanbad and Bokaro thus extending the polling hours up to 5pm whereas polling in remaining 13 constituencies will stop at 3pm.