First phase of polling ends in Jharkhand with 64.86% turnout of voters

Phase-I of Jharkhand Assembly elections sees peaceful polling with impressive voter turnout, suspending IPS officer for dereliction.

Polling for 43 Assembly constituencies in phase-I of the Jharkhand Assembly elections concluded peacefully on Wednesday (November 13, 2024), with an impressive turnout of voters.

Sharing the information, Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Jharkhand Dr. Neha Arora said that till 5 p.m. a voter turnout of approximately 64.86% was recorded at the polling stations in Jharkhand.

It has also surpassed 63.9% voting in these 43 ACs in 2019 Assembly Elections. Polling was going on in certain polling stations where voters were waiting in queue before the culmination of poll hours.

Polling was held in 15 districts of Jharkhand and the Kharsawan Assembly seat received the maximum polling of 77.32% followed by Baharagora— 76.15 % and Lohardaga— 73.21%. Ranchi witnessed the lowest polling with just 51.5%.

In Budha Pahad area in Garhwa district, once considered a stronghold of extremists, long queues, and peaceful polling was held at Hesatu Polling station. For the first time, this polling station was set up in the Budha Pahad area for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, allowing residents to vote in their own village.

In the Manoharpur and Jaganathpur assembly constituency of West Singhbhum district, voters chose to cast their vote in spite of boycott posters and threat calls by extremists. At polling stations in Sonapi in the Jaganathpur seat and Rabangada in the Manoharpur seat, security forces thwarted attempts to prevent voters from voting through boycott posters and blockades on the way.

CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu constantly monitored the situation across over 15,000 polling stations. For the first time, voters of Lakhaidih village in the Potka Assembly seat (East Singhbhum district) having 100% tribal population voted at a polling station set up in their own village.