Ranchi, Nov 18 (IANS ) Campaigning for the high-stakes second and final phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections ended on Monday evening. Voters will head to the polling booths on November 20 to decide the fate of candidates across 38 constituencies. These include 18 seats from Santhal Pargana, another 18 from North Chotanagpur, and two from South Chotanagpur divisions.
Out of these 38 seats, eight are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), three for Scheduled Castes (SCs), and the remaining 27 are general category seats.
Prominent candidates in the fray include Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM) contesting from Barhait, state BJP president and former CM Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar, and JMM star campaigner Kalpana Soren from Gandey.
Other notable contenders include Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato (JMM) from Nala, Leader of Opposition Amar Bauri from Chandankiyari, Congress leaders Deepika Pandey Singh in Mahagama, Irfan Ansari in Jamtara, and Hafizul Hasan in Madhupur.
AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto will contest from Silli, while Hemant Soren's brother, Basant Soren, is contesting from Dumka.
In the 2019 elections, the JMM had won the maximum number of seats, 13, in these constituencies, followed by BJP with 12. The Congress secured eight seats, while Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and AJSU Party won two each, and the CPI-ML secured one seat.
This phase has 528 candidates vying for the votes of 1,23,58,195 registered voters. A total of 14,218 polling stations have been set up, with polling teams reaching their destinations by the evening of November 19.
Due to security concerns, 31 polling stations have been classified as highly sensitive and will operate from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., while other polling stations will remain open until 5 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar highlighted special arrangements that have been made for this phase, including 48 model polling booths, 239 women-managed polling stations, 22 booths staffed by disabled workers, and 26 youth-managed stations.
On the final day of campaigning, high-profile leaders from both the BJP-NDA and INDIA bloc held over 20 public meetings. Key figures included UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chirag Paswan, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, alongside opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Hemant Soren, and Kalpana Soren.
With the campaign officially concluded, Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar said that all political persons who are not voters in the area must leave immediately. Authorities will take strict action against any violators found in the constituency in the silent period.