Around 64 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the second phase of elections in Jharkhand on Monday, conducted peacefully in four Parliamentary constituencies –Koderma, Ranchi, Khunti and Hazaribag.
“Koderma witnessed a voter turnout of 65.70 per cent. In Ranchi, 63.38 per cent voters exercised their franchise. As many as 65.22 per cent voters cast their votes in Khunti and 62.91 per cent voted in Hazaribag,” said Chief Electoral Officer L Khiangte, adding that the total poll percentage in the four constituencies that voted on Monday was 64.23 at the end of the day. The final poll figures, however, are likely to increase after the final scrutiny, said Khiangte.
In comparison with 2014, the voter turnout has not seen any major difference. During the 2014 General Elections, a total of 63.85 per cent voters had cast their votes in the four constituencies that went to polls on Monday.
On Monday, Ranchi saw the least voter turnout among the four constituencies despite having the maximum number of urban polling stations. However, the voters’ turnout was similar to that of 2014.
Polling started at 7am on Monday and continued till 4pm. The voters who reached the polling booth and stood in queues before 4pm were given extended deadline for casting their votes.
No major incident of violence was reported from any of the four constituencies. However, a tractor returning to its village after dropping voters to a polling booth in Ranchi’s Tamar was set ablaze apparently by Left Wing Extremists. No casualties were reported in the incident and it did not have any impact on voting, police said.
“The elections were conducted peacefully under strict security in all the four constituencies. Barring a minor incident in Tamar, no incident of disruption in polling was reported from any other place,” said Inspector General of Police (Operations), Ashish Batra, who also happens to be the spokesperson of Jharkhand Police.
According to figures with the ECI, out of the total 65,87,028 voters in the four constituencies, 34,42,266 are men and 31,44,679 are women. As many as 1,09,025 millennial voters were a part of the electoral roll on Monday.
Over 18 lakh voters in Koderma, more than 19 lakh in Ranchi, nearly 12 lakh in Khunti and more than 16 lakh in Hazaribag were enrolled in the voters’ list for the polls on Monday.
Polling started on a high note on Monday with voters turning out at the polling stations in large numbers across the four constituencies. The rush at the polling stations, however, reduced in the afternoon and against surged in the evening.
As per record with the ECI, around 30 per cent voters cast their votes by 11am. The poll percentage increased to around 45 by 1pm and 58 by 3pm. Nearly half of the total number of voters who cast their votes on Monday turned up at their respective polling stations in between 7am to 11am.
Out of the 8834 polling stations, only 1312 came in the periphery of urban areas while 7522 fell in rural areas.
As many as 61 candidates were in fray in the four constituencies.