Today, November 20, is the day for Jharkhand voters to cast their ballots in the 2024 assembly elections. There are 528 candidates running for the 38 seats in this phase, including 472 men, 55 women, and one third-gender candidate.
With the exception of sensitive polling sites, where voting will end at 4 pm, polling will start at 7 am and end at 5 pm. In this round, more than 1.23 crore voters, including 61 lakh women, are eligible to vote.
This is the second and last round of Jharkhand’s state assembly elections. For 43 of the 81 assembly seats, the first round of voting was held on November 13.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren, and his sister-in-law Sita Soren from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are among the leading contenders.
Former chairman Minister Babulal Marandi, Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM), AJSU Party chairman Sudesh Mahto, and Leader of the Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri are among the prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates in the second round.
This election is essentially a two-way contest between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP, and the JMM-led alliance.
As of 9 a.m. on November 20, Jharkhand’s voter turnout in phase 2 of the state assembly election was 12.71 percent.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur has requested voters to “vote for wealth, culture and state security”.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), he said, “Voting for the second phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections is taking place today. I humbly request all the respected voters to vote for the wealth, culture and security of the state and motivate more and more people to participate in this festival of democracy.”
