65% voting on 43 seats in Jharkhand, by-elections were also held in 10 states
#News Bureau November 14,2024
The first phase of voting for the 81-member assembly in Jharkhand was held on Wednesday. 64.86 percent votes were cast for 43 assembly seats till 5 pm. Earlier, about 59% voting was recorded till 3 pm. Of the 43 constituencies, 17 are general seats, 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and six for Scheduled Castes. Voting for the remaining 38 seats will be held in the second phase on November 20.
Along with the Jharkhand assembly elections, voting was held for by-elections on 31 assembly seats in 10 states on Wednesday. A by-election was also held in Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi entered the electoral fray for the first time. By-elections were held on seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two in Madhya Pradesh and one each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. By-elections on 14 other assembly seats in Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will be held on November 20 along with the Maharashtra assembly elections.
64% voting in Rajasthan
More than 64 percent voting was recorded till 5 pm in the by-elections held for seven assembly seats in Rajasthan on Wednesday. Ramgarh recorded the highest turnout of 71.45%, followed by Khinvsar at 71.04% and Chaurasi at 68.55%. Salumber recorded 64.19%, Deoli-Uniyara at 60.61%, Jhunjhunu at 61.8% and Dausa recorded the lowest turnout of 55.63%.
Meanwhile, a total of 638 candidates, including 73 women, are contesting the 43 seats in the first phase of Jharkhand assembly elections. In the last assembly elections, Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party 25 and the Congress 16 seats. After the last assembly elections, the alliance of JMM, Congress and RJD formed the government and Hemant Soren became the Chief Minister.
The key constituencies in the first phase include Seraikela, Ranchi, Jamshedpur West, Jagannathpur and Jamshedpur East. Jamshedpur West has the highest number of candidates at 28, while the lowest is Jagannathpur, where only eight candidates have filed nominations.
There are a total of 2.6 crore voters in the state, of which 1.31 crore are men and 1.29 crore are women. The number of voters in the age group of 20 to 29 years is 66.84 lakh, of which the number of first-time voters in the age group of 18 and 19 years is 11.84 lakh.
Champai Soren said
BJP candidate Champai Soren said the main issues in the election are “Bangladeshi infiltration, unemployment and irrigation”. Although Champai Soren has been an MLA six times before, he never raised the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration. But since he is contesting from the BJP and the BJP is contesting on this issue, Champai Soren also started seeing this issue. Soren said on Wednesday, “We have to save the land of Sidhu-Kanho and Santhal from Bangladeshi infiltrators… There is no doubt that BJP will form the government in Jharkhand.”
Champai Soren has been representing the Saraikela constituency since 2005. A six-time MLA, Soren served twice in Bihar and four times in Jharkhand and was closely associated with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) founder Shibu Soren to lead the Jharkhand movement. After the arrest of Hemant Soren in January 2024, Champai Soren took over as Chief Minister. On the return of Hemant Soren, Champai Soren left JMM and joined BJP. He is contesting the election as a BJP candidate from Saraikela seat.
While PM Modi congratulated the young voters for the first phase of voting in Jharkhand, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge appealed to the voters to come out in large numbers. However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah made an emotional appeal. Shah said, “Today (Wednesday) first vote for roti-beti-mati and then have refreshments.”
