Voting ended in five of the 15 assembly seats that went to the polls in the fourth phase in Jharkhand on Monday. According to the Election Commission, more than 53.37 percent polling have been been reported till 3 pm. Voting ended at 3 pm on five seats — Bagodar, Jamua, Giridih, Dumri and Tundi, while on rest of the 10 seats, it will end at 5 pm. In Dhanbad, an elderly woman was brought on a cot to cast her vote.

Despite cold weather condition and Maoist threat, voters turned out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. Jharkahnd had witnessed rain on Sunday and the weather is cloudy in most part of the state on Monday.

Earlier, Jharkhand recorded 28.56 percent voting till 11 am in the fourth phase of the assembly polls on Monday. According to the Election Commission data, the highest polling has been recorded in Bagodar with 34.63 percent and the lowest in Bokaro with 21.46 percent so far.

There are a total of 221 candidates including 23 females in the fray in this phase. The maximum, 25 candidates, are contesting from the Bokaro seat while the minimum, eight candidate, are trying their luck from the Nirsa seat.

Out of 15 seats, three — Deoghar, Jamua and Chandankiyari — are reserved for Scheduled Castes, while remaining 12 are general seats.

A total of 47,81,422 voters are eligible to cast their votes in these 15 Assembly constituencies that spread across four districts — Deoghar, Giridih, Bokaro and Dhanbad.

On 10 seats, polling will take place between 7 am and 5 pm, while on the remaining seats, which include Bagodar, Jamua, Giridih, Dumri and Tundi, the voting will end at 3 pm.

A total of 6,101 booths have been set up for voting out of which 4,296 fall in the rural areas.

In Maoist affected areas, 587 booths have been marked as "very sensitive" and 405 are "sensitive" while in the non-Maoist areas, 546 booths are "very sensitive" and 2,665 are "sensitive".

Prominent candidates who are in the race for these seats include Labour Minister Raj Paliwar, Tourism Development Amar Kumar Bauri, Ragni Singh, Raj Kishore Mahto and Dhullu Mahto.

First Published:Dec 16, 2019 12:49 PM IST