Ranchi, Nov 20, 2024, IANS

Ranchi, Nov 20 (IANS) Voting for the second and final phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections is underway, with 31.37 per cent of voters turning out till 11 a.m. At 38.35 per cent, Maheshpur in Santhal Pargana has recorded the highest voter turnout, followed by Silli in Ranchi (37.60 per cent), Sarath (36.86 per cent), and Littipara (34.71 per cent), according to the Election Commission data. Dhanbad Urban has seen the lowest turnout, with only 21.65 per cent of voters casting their votes by this time. Amid the polling, a controversy arose in the Madhupur constituency of Deoghar district, where a polling officer at booth number 111 was removed on allegations of influencing voters to support a particular party. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey claimed that the officer was arrested for directing the electorate to vote in favour of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). Polling is being conducted across 14,219 booths in 38 constituencies across 12 districts. Voting will end at 5 p.m., though 31 highly sensitive booths will close at 4 p.m. Security has been tightened with the deployment of 585 companies of central paramilitary forces, 60 companies of Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP), and 30,000 personnel from district forces and home guards. A total of 528 candidates are contesting in this phase, with 1.23 crore voters eligible to decide their fate. The constituencies include 18 seats each from Santhal Pargana and North Chotanagpur divisions and two from South Chotanagpur. Of the 38 seats, eight seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, three for Scheduled Castes, and 27 are general seats. The largest constituency in terms of area is Mandu in Hazaribagh district, while the smallest is Jharia in Dhanbad district. Bokaro has the highest voter count with 5,82,101 voters, while Littipara has the lowest with 2,17,388 voters. Several high-profile candidates are in the fray in this phase. Chief Minister Hemant Soren is contesting from Barhait as a JMM candidate, while BJP state president and former CM Babulal Marandi is running from Rajdhanwar. Other prominent candidates include Chief Minister Soren's wife Kalpana Soren from Gandey, Rabindra Nath Mahato from Nala, Amar Bauri from Chandankiyari, Deepika Pandey Singh from Mahagama, Irfan Ansari from Jamtara, Hafizul Hasan from Madhupur, and Baby Devi from Dumri. AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto is contesting from Silli, and CM Soren's brother Basant Soren is contesting from Dumka.