The results of the five-phase election held from November 30 to December 20 will be out on Monday and all eyes are now set on the 24 strong rooms where EVMs rest under tight security. The counting process will begin at 8am at all the counting centres spread across Jharkhand and postal ballots will be counted first, officials from the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office said on Sunday.
The fate of as many as 1216 candidates, including 129 women and one transgender, is sealed in the EVMs. “One round of counting takes around 20 to 25 minutes. The VVPAT slip verification, however, will take more than an hour,” said Assistant Chief Electoral Officer, KN Jha.
Votes cast in at least 14 EVM machines will be counted in each round on Monday, sources said. As per the rules laid down by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the counting begins with the inspection of the seal of EVM machines. The VVPAT slips in at least five polling stations in each constituency will also be counted manually after the votes in the EVM are counted, officials said. The manual counting of VVPAT slips was included in the process after allegations of EVM tampering went rife across the country.
The result of all the 81 Assembly constituencies in the State will be out by Monday evening. While the exit polls predictions are in favour of the tripartite alliance between Congress party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful of achieving a magic number in the house.
The elections witnessed extensive campaigning by all the parties, especially the BJP, which got the benefit of active and aggressive campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Modi visited Jharkhand at least six times during the election period of less than a month. Shah and Singh, on the other hand, addressed election rallies before every phase of polls.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also addressed a rally in Pakur — her first ever Assembly election rally — and shared the stage with JMM Executive President Hemant Soren, who is the Chief Ministerial face of the UPA alliance. Hemant was among the most aggressive campaigners during the polls. JMM patriarch Shibu Soren also addressed rallies despite his frail health.
Political pundits are of the opinion that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CCA) — passed half way through the elections here — may also have an impact on the final results. While protests against the CAA have disrupted life in many cities across the country, Jharkhand did not witness any violence related to CAA. “The CAA may either work in favour of the ruling BJP or boomerang against it. It is difficult to comment on how it will show its effect on the election results here,” said political analyst and academician, VP Sharan.
Foolproof security arrangements have been made at all the strong rooms, police said. Jawans from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), State Police and Jharkhand Armed Police have been deployed in sufficient numbers at all the counting stations.