Over 61 percent voter turnout was recorded on Thursday, 12 December, at the end of third-phase of elections, in which 17 assembly seats of Jharkhand went to polls.
Voting ended at 5 pm for the Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Ramgarh and Barkatha Assembly seats. There are a total of 309 candidates whose fate will be decided by 56,06,743 voters.
These 17 seats are spread across Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Bokaro, Koderma and Saraikela. More than 35,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling.
Jharkhand Governor Draupdi Murmu cast her vote at ATI Ranchi while AJSU president Sudesh Mahtyo cast his vote along with his wife at Silli. Jayant Sinha cast his vote in Hazaribagh.
A newly married couple cast their votes at polling booth number 225 of Hazaribagh. Priyanka was married on Wednesday night and she came with her husband for voting on Thursday morning. Maoist leader Maharaja Parmanik's parents cast their votes at Ichagarh.
In the third phase the key candidates are three ministers - CP Singh, Ramchandra Sahis and Neera Yadav, Former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and former Deputy Chief Minister and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudesh Mahto.
Of the 17 seats, BJP, JMM and Congress had won 10, three and two seats respectively in the 2014 Assembly elections.
There is a direct fight on between the BJP, Congress and JMM candidates on seven seats. For the Silli seat the fight is between AJSU president Sudesh Mahto and JMM sitting legislator Seema Devi. There is a triangular fight on six seats. For some seats the fight is four-cornered or multi-cornered.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jharkahnd Chief Minister Raghubar Das have appealed to the voters to cast their votes.
Taking to Twitter, PM Narendra Modi urged people to vote in large numbers.
About 40,000 polling personnel have been deputed to conduct smooth and peaceful voting.
Of the total 7,016 polling stations set up for the third-phase, 1,008 are marked as critical and 543 sensitive in Naxal-affected areas.
A total of 2,014 polling stations have webcasting facilities, while elections in 329 model polling stations and 44 polling stations will be conducted by women.
The Assembly elections to the 81-member House began on 30 November. The fourth and the fifth phases polling for 15 and 16 seats will be held on 16 and 20 December respectively. Counting will take place on 23 December.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
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