Voting in fifth and final phase begins in J-K, Jharkhand

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, December 20, 2014: Voting began on Saturday in the fifth and final phase of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, officials said.

Sixteen of the 81 assembly constituencies of Jharkand will vote in this phase while 20 constituencies spread over Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts of Jammu region will elect their representatives to the 87-member legislative assembly in this phase.

Votes will be counted December 23.

Amid tight security, polling began on a brisk note for the fifth and final round of elections in Jammu and Kashmir in which 213 candidates, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and four other Ministers, are trying their luck.

After a record turnout of voters in the previous four phases, particularly in Kashmir Valley, there is an expectation of high voter turnout in the seats spread across Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts of Jammu region.

As many as 213 candidates, including the Deputy Chief Minister, ministers Sham Lal Sharma, Raman Bhalla, Manohar Lal Sharma, Ajay Sadhotra, former MP and Ministers Lal Singh and Talib Hussain (both BJP) are in the fray.

As many as 18,28,904 eligible voters, comprising 9,59,011 men and 8,69,891 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 2,366 polling stations set up across the three border districts.

BJP has high stakes in this phase as it had got 10 seats in 2008 Assembly elections followed by Congress with 5 seats, NC 2, PDP 1 and two seats going to Independents.

"All the measures and arrangements have been put in place for tomorrow’s polls", Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Division, Shant Manu told PTI.

The Divisional Commissioner said that 400 security companies (40,000 security men) have been deployed for today’s polling apart from regular deployment of police forces.

Security arrangements along the Indo-Pak border have been strengthened in the three border districts of Jammu region with troops put on alert for the polls.

"Security grid along the Indo-Pak border has been put on alert. Multi-tier security has been put in place", the Divisional Commissioner said.

In Jharkhand, there are a total of 4,448 polling stations (including Auxiliary-30) with 149 in urban areas. As many as 833 of them are hyper-sensitive and 1,496 are sensitive, the EC release said.

The Election Commission has deployed 22,240 polling personnel, 16 general observers, ten expenditure observers, three police observers, one awareness observer and 1,050 micro observers in Jharkhand.

The seats where voting has begun are Rajmahal, Borio (ST), Barhait (ST), Litipara (ST), Pakur, Maheshpur (ST), Sikaripara (ST), Nala, Jamtara, Dumka (ST), Jama (ST), Jarmundi, Sarath, Poreyahat, Godda and Mahagama constituencies, spread across six districts of Dumka, Pakur, Godda, Sahibganj and Jamtara with some parts of Jarmundi constituency falling in Degoarh district.

Courtesy: Indiatoday