RANCHI : Voting for the four Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand concluded on Saturday with Giridih recording the highest voter turnout at 64.75 percent, while Ranchi, the capital city, registered the lowest at 58.73 percent. Voting took place peacefully in Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi, and Jamshedpur. Former cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Governor CP Radhakrishnan, and former CM Hemant Soren’s wife, Kalpana Soren, cast their votes during the third round of polling in Jharkhand.
According to a Jharkhand police spokesperson, the voting was peaceful everywhere. “As of now, no reports of violence or any such incidents have been reported from any of the four Lok Sabha constituencies where polling took place on Saturday. Voting was peaceful everywhere,” said Jharkhand Police Spokesperson AV Homkar.
Notably, 93 candidates are in the fray for the four seats where elections were held on Saturday. A total of 61.41 percent of voting took place in Jharkhand. Among the four seats, the highest voting was in Giridih at 64.75 percent, and the lowest was in Ranchi at 58.73 percent. Additionally, 58.90 percent voting took place in Dhanbad, and 64.40 percent in Jamshedpur. In Jamshedpur, people faced a lot of trouble due to EVM malfunctioning at booth 288.
The sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections marks the third round of polls in the state. In Ranchi, Congress’s Yashaswini Sahay, daughter of former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, is contesting against the BJP's sitting MP Sanjay Seth in a straight fight. In Dhanbad, there is a direct contest between the BJP's Baghmara MLA Dulu Mahato and Congress’s Anupama Singh, wife of Bermo legislator Kumar Jaimangal. In Jamshedpur, BJP’s sitting MP Bidyut Baran Mahato is contesting against JMM’s Baharagora MLA Samir Mohanty.
Odisha
Voting was held in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri parliamentary constituencies, along with 42 assembly segments within the jurisdiction of these Lok Sabha seats. Odisha’s chief electoral officer N B Dhal said voting was peaceful so far in the 10,581 polling stations, barring some reports of EVM glitches. In Bhubaneswar, a woman on oxygen support demonstrated her commitment by casting her vote at a polling booth.
In Puri, a 97-year-old man protested against not finding his name in the voters’ list by lying down inside the polling booth. In the incident, which took pace at booth No. 56 at Bholanath Bidyapeeth, the nonagenarian claimed he had voted in the last elections and alleged he was being deprived of his democratic rights. Many voters had expressed frustration over EC’s curbs on carrying mobile phones to polling booths. Some were even seen returning to their homes without casting their votes over phones restrictions.