NEW DELHI: The assembly elections in Jharkhand will be held in five phases starting on November 30. The poll results will be declared on December 23, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Friday.
The first phase of elections will be held on November 13, the second phase on December 7, the third phase on December 12, the fourth phase on December 16 and the last phase on December 20.
Polling will be held in 81 assembly seats in the state. The tenure of the assembly ends on January 5.
The CEC said the election panel is making poll preparations while taking into account the Maoist problem in the state, adding that 67 assembly seats in 19 districts are affected by Naxalism.
In 2014, the BJP, which won 35 seats, formed the government along with All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU) which had won 5 seats and Raghubar Das took over as the Chief Minister.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) finished second in the tally with 17 seats while Congress was decimated to just six assembly seats.
This will be the fourth Assembly election in Jharkhand since the state was carved out in 2000.
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won 12 out of 14 parliamentary seats in 2019 General elections.
Earlier in the run-up to polls, five MLAs from opposition parties joined the BJP last month.
Among the five, Baharagora MLA Kunal Sarangi and Mandu MLA JP Bhai Patel are from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
Bhawanathpur MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi ditched Nav Jawan Sangharsh Morcha. Lahardagga MLA Sukhdev Bhagat and Barhi MLA Manoj Yadav were from Congress.