More than 66.85 lakh voters of Jharkhand are likely to exercise their franchise in the sixth phase of the 17th general elections covering four of State’s 14 parliamentary constituencies on Sunday.
The people of Giridih, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Singbhum constituencies, where the Grand Alliance is set to challenge NDA allies -Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and AJSU-party, will cast their votes from 7am to 4pm on Sunday.
The four constituencies going to polls on Sunday have the highest percentage of young voters in Jharkhand. As per records with the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office in Ranchi, as many as 28,37,005 voters, who form 42.44 per cent of the total number of electorates in the four constituencies, are in the age bracket of 26-40 years.
A press communiqué from CEO L Khiangte’s office said that out of the 28,37,005 voters of the group, 14,76,772 are men, 13,60,144 are women and 49 are from third gender. In the 2014 elections the number of such voters was 25,34,045, which was 41.32 per cent of the total voters.
Voters here will cast their votes at 8300 polling stations, out of which 2582 booths are in urban areas and 5718 booths are in rural areas. Out of the total 66,85,401 voters 35,05,565 are men, 31,79,720 are women and 104 are from third gender, the communiqué added.
The BJP decided not to field its incumbent parliamentarian Ravindar Pandey from Giridih and instead gave the seat to its ally AJSU-party this election. Minister in the Raghubar Das cabinet, AJSU-party’s Chandra Prakash Choudhary is set to go on a head on contest with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) Jagarnath Mahato here.
In Dhanbad, BJP’s PN Singh will defend his incumbency against former cricketer Kirti Azad, who recently quit the BJP and joined the Congress party. BJP’s Bidyut Baran Mahato will have a faceoff against JMM’s Champai Soren in Jamshedpur, while Congress party’s Geeta Koda will challenge BJP’s State President Laxman Gilua in Singbhum.
As per figures with the CEO’s office in Ranchi, about 40,000 security personnel have been deployed for peaceful and fearless polling in the State for Sunday. The security deployment includes 175 companies of paramilitary forces, 52 companies of State police, 20,375 personnel of district police and about 5972 police officers across the State.
Proper security arrangements have been done in sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations. One air ambulance has also been kept ready for emergency situation and it will be available from May 11 to May 13. Also, three choppers have been deployed to keep watch on sensitive booths, he added.
According to the CEO, 84,338 voters are first time voters between 18 and 19 years of age. This accounts for 49,727 male first time voters, 34,604 female first time voters and seven third gender voters. He further said that a total of 67 candidates are in the fray, out of which 57 are males and eight are females.