RANCHI: In a major achievement, for the first time after the formation of Jharkhand, Assembly polls were conducted here without any incident of Maoist violence.
The second phase of polling concluded peacefully for 38 Assembly seats in Jharkhand on Wednesday with an overall voter turnout of 67.59 %. Out of the 38 seats where polling was conducted in the second phase, BJP contested 32 and AJSU contested six seats from NDA side, while JMM contested 20, Congress 12, RJD two and CPI (ML) on four seats from the INDIA bloc.
According to Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dr Neha Arora, Maheshpur remained on the top with a maximum voting percentage of 79.4 per cent followed by Nala with 78.75 per cent and Sarath with 77.94 per cent. The lowest voter turnout on the other hand, was recorded at Bokaro with 50.52 per cent, Dhanbad with 52.31 per cent and Jharia with 55.23 per cent, she said.
“All constituencies except Bokaro, Dhanbad and Jharia recorded more than 60 per cent voter turnout,” said the Additional Chief Electoral Officer. A total of 134 ballot units, 161 control units, and 377 VVPATs were replaced by 3 pm during polling, she added.
Meanwhile, on the orders of the Election Commission, an FIR was registered against presiding officer Ramanand Kumar Paswan, posted at polling station number 111 of Madhupur assembly constituency, following a complaint was registered against him. Paswan was taken into custody immediately after that. A complaint was received against him for conducting votes in favour of the JMM candidate, which was confirmed through webcasting. ACEO Dr Neha Arora said that another officer was posted in his place.
A total of 528 candidates are in the fray in the second phase, out of which 472 are men and 55 are women. Voting was completed at 14219 polling stations, which were monitored through webcasting from the State Election Building and the District Election Office.