Polling in 13 Maoist-affected seats of Jharkhand tomorrow

Ranchi:  Polling will take place amidst tightsecurity in 13 Maoist-affected constituencies in the first phase of five-stage elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly on Tuesday.

Adequate security forces have been deployed as all the 13 constituencies are affected by Maoist activities and the personnel have been asked to follow the standard operating procedure.

Altogether 33,61,938 voters, including 15,77,090 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect their representatives from among 199 candidates in the fray.

More than 3,900 polling booths have been set up and 35,425 polling personnel deployed to conduct free, fair and peaceful polling.

Eighteen women and 72 independents are in the electoral race in this phase.

While a maximum of 26 candidates are contesting from Daltonganj, Chatra has the lowest number of seven candidates.

The BJP has fielded candidates in 12 of the 13 seats, while allotting one to AJSU party at Lohardaga as per the seat adjustment.

The RJD, which is contesting seven seats and is in alliance with the Congress and the JD (U), is engaged in a friendly contest with the JD (U) in Chhatarpur and Hussainabad constituencies.

The Congress, which is contesting in seven of the 13 seats, is also locked in a friendly bout with the RJD in Manika.