Jharkhand Phase-I Assembly poll records over 65% turnout, Wayanad bypoll 64.72%

Ranchi: The Phase I of the Jharkhand Assembly polls on Wednesday saw a voter turnout of 65.71% till 8 pm, while the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll in Kerala recorded a polling percentage of 64.72%.

In Jharkhand, 43 out of 81 constituencies voted in the first phase, while the rest would go to polls on November 20 and the counting would take place on November 23. The fate of 683 candidates was sealed when 1.37 crore voters cast their votes in the first phase. The 43 seats that went to polls include 17 general seats, six reserved for Scheduled Castes and 20 for Scheduled Tribes.

Interesting contests in this phase include the constituencies of Seraikella, Ranchi, Jamshedpur West, Jaganathpur and Jamshedpur East.

Former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Champai Soren is contesting from Seraikella, while Jamshedpur East will see a face-off between the Congress’s Ajoy Kumar, who once served as the Superintendent of Police of Jamshedpur, and Purnima Das Sahu, daughter-in-law of former Jharkhand Chief Minister and current Odisha Governor Raghubar Das.

Among the Assembly segments, Lohardaga district topped the list with 73.21% polling while Hazaribag district recorded the lowest at 59.13%.

Among the 31 Assembly seats where byelections were held, Channapatna in Karnataka saw the highest turnout at 88.80%, while Raipur City South in Chhattisgarh was the lowest at 46.43%.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Wednesday suspended a Rajasthan cadre IPS officer Kishan Sahay Meena for dereliction of duty. The official, posted in Jharkhand for electoral duty, has been charged with returning to Rajasthan without permission. Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar confirmed the suspension of Mr. Meena.

In the last Assembly polls in 2019, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha secured 30 seats, the BJP won 25. The JMM-led alliance, with the Congress and RJD, won a majority of 47 seats.

In Kerala, the turnout in Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was 64.72%, amid reports of breakdown of some electronic voting machines (EVM) in some booths.

The Wayanad by-election was necessitated after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat following his victory from Raebareli in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Priyanka Vadra is the Congress candidate and she is pitted against Navya Haridas of the BJP and the CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri.

Most of the Assembly seats where bypolls are being held fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the recent Lok Sabha elections and won.

Trinamool worker killed

In West Bengal, where bypolls were held in six Assembly seats, a Trinamool Congress worker was killed near the Naihati constituency. The Chief Electoral Officer has sought a report on the incident.

The average voter turnout across six constituencies stood at 69.29%. The turnout in Taldangra was 75.20%, Haroa 73.95%, Medinipur 71.85%, Sitai 66.35%, Madarihat 64.14% and Naihati 62.10%.

In Rajasthan, the Ramgarh Assembly seat recorded the highest polling percentage of 75.27%, while in Madhya Pradesh, Vijaypur recorded 75.27%. In Bihar, Tarari saw a voter turnout of 50.20% while Imamganj saw a turnout of 51.38%.