Though the political parties and their candidates have been stopped from holding public rallies, meetings and roadshows, the spirit of the candidates to make the most even after the deadline is far from vanishing. Candidates on Friday too were seen in calculation and mobilising support.
With stage set for polling on Saturday, all eyes are on Jamshedpur East where Chief Minister Raghubar Das and his former Cabinet colleague Saryu Roy are fighting against each other trying their luck to earn ticket to the Assembly.
Das had won the 2014 Assembly polls from Jamshedpur East with a margin of 70,157 against nearest Congress rival Anand Bihari Dubey. Apart from Roy, the Chief Minister is being challenged by Congress’ national spokesperson and XLRI Jamshedpur Professor Gourav Vallabh and JVM’s central secretary Abhay Singh.
Two-member teams comprising a magistrate (an administrative official) and a videographer (private videographers hired on daily basis by the administration) have been placed from morning till night with selected candidates and senior leaders of respective political parties.
Polling will take place from 7 am to 5 pm in Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West constituencies. In all other constituencies, polling will take place from 7 am to 3 pm.
Development of the Assembly constituencies was the main poll plank of all the contestants. According to Saryu Roy, “I have full faith on the voters of Jamshedpur East. They will be electing their MLA on the basis of performance of candidates and not on the basis of election campaign and publicity. I openly ask the voters to judge my tenure as the MLA and then decide to vote”.
Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises the following six Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) segments Baharagora Ghatshila, Potka, Jugsalai, Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West.
Apart from with the high profile visits scheduled and rallies of the leaders of major political parties, candidates worked hard to cover the entire constituency with padh yatra. They turned their attention to micro-level problems and demands during the street-by-street campaign.