Amidst speculations about an election announcement for Jharkhand on Tuesday, sources from the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in Jharkhand said that a team from the Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to pay a visit to Ranchi on November 3. While the exact purpose of the visit is yet to be confirmed, a Government source said that the ECI team may visit one of the 24 districts here to inspect the preparedness of the district administrations for conducting the Assembly elections slated at the end of this year.
“A team from the ECI is likely to visit the State on November 3, but the purpose of their visit is not yet clear,” she said. However, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinay Choubey said that there was no official confirmation from the ECI on a Jharkhand visit of their team in November first week. “We do not have any official communication from the ECI regarding the visit yet,” said Choubey.
A team from the ECI had visited Jharkhand earlier this month to hold meetings with representatives of various political parties and Government officials who would be involved in conducting polls here.
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) requested the ECI team to conduct elections here in five phases, all the remaining parties in Jharkhand sought a single-phase poll for the 81-member Assembly here. The Government source, who has been in the thick of events lately, on Tuesday said that elections were likely to be conducted in three phases in Jharkhand. Speculations were rife till Tuesday evening that the ECI might announce elections in Jharkhand on Tuesday itself. However, no announcements were made regarding the elections by the time this report was filed. Sources said that the ECI is likely to announce elections after Chhath, one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, the District Administrations here have geared up for the polls and are running full-fledged awareness campaigns across the State. The Ranchi administration has asked selected restaurants and hotels to offer 10 per cent discount to those who produce their voter ID card while eating out till the time of elections.
Restaurants will also offer a discount of 15 per cent to voters on the day of polling. Besides, movie theaters and petrol pumps have also been roped in to encourage voters to exercise their franchise here.
This is the first time that a Government has completed its full tenure of five years in Jharkhand before the State goes to polls. BJP, the single largest party here, dominated the recently held General Elections here and won 12 of 14 seats.
The party, however, is likely to face a tough contest from the united opposition of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress party and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik.