Twitter
Advertisement

Final phase: Massive 76% polling in Jammu and Kashmir, 71% turnout in Jharkhand

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Voting for the fifth and final leg of assembly polls on 20 seats of Jammu and Kashmir and 16 seats of Jharkhand spread across six districts began on Saturday morning amid a strong security deployment.

71% of the electorate exercised their franchise in the final phase of elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly as the day passed-off peacefully. In Jammu and Kashmir, 76% turnout was recorded. 

As many as 213 candidates, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Ministers Sham Lal Sharma, Raman Bhalla, Manohar Lal Sharma, Ajay Sadhotra, former MP and ministers Lal Singh, Talib Hussain (both BJP) and Jitendra Babu Singh and former Deputy Speaker Hyder Malik were in the fray.

Latest updates

19:48 IST Saturday, 20 December 2014

Jammu and Kashmir registered its highest turn-out in assembly elections in the last 25 years with an estimated 65% of voters casting their votes, as the fifth and final phase of polling ended on Saturday.

Jharkhand, which also went to the polls along with Jammu & Kashmir, broke all previous polling records to witness over 66% of turn-out in the five phases, bettering the previous mark of 54.2% in the 2004 assembly poll. 

Terming the overall polling percentage in Jammu & Kashmir as "historic and unprecedented", Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi said the fifth and final phase of polling in the assembly elections on Saturday saw 76% of polling. Similarly, the last phase recorded over 71% of polling in Jharkhand, he said.  Read More 

17:17 IST Saturday, 20 December 2014

More than 70 % polling in final phase of Jharkhand elections

Polling in the 16 constituencies of Jharkhand ended with 70.42% of the electorate exercising their franchise in the fifth and final phase of elections to the 81-member state assembly as the day passed-off peacefully.

The Election Commission in its statement said the figure might go up after an update.

17:14 IST Saturday, 20 December 2014

Over 55% voting in Jammu and Kashmir till 2:00 pm

Undeterred by the threat of firing from across the border and braving the winter chill, over 55% of the electorate today exercised their franchise till 2 PM in 20 constituencies of Jammu's border region in the fifth and final phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.

Rural areas witnessed more voter turnout till 2 pm than the urban areas of the city.

"As many as 55.29 per cent of voting has been registered till 2 pm in 20 segments of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts", an official spokesman said.

14:58 IST Saturday, 20 December 2014

Impressive 53.86 turnout till 1 PM in Jharkhand

An impressive 53.86% voter turnout was recorded till 1 pm in the 16 constituencies in tribal Santhal Parganas in Jharkhand where polling is underway in the fifth and final phase.

Pakur and Shikaripara constituencies recorded highest balloting of 60.5% and 60.15% respectively, and several other constituencies registered more than 50% voting, an Election Commission (EC) release said.

Following close behind are Sarath (59.5), Litipara (59), Maheshpur (58), Nala (56), Jamtara (57), Jarmundi (57), Jama (56) and Poreyahat (56).

13:30 IST Saturday, 20 December 2014

29% voting in Jammu and Kashmir till 12 pm

Braving winter chill, nearly 29% of the electorate exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in 20 constituencies.

12:23 IST Saturday, 20 December 2014

* 35% voting recorded in Jharkhand till 11 am

Brisk polling was on in Jharkhand, where about 35% votes were cast in the first four hours. Long queues were seen at the booths as the sun came out and the December morning chill decreased and polling was so far peaceful in all the six districts where polling was on.

9:30ST Saturday, 20 December 2014

* 14% voting recorded in Jharkhand till 9:00 am

Over 14% voting was registered in the first two hours of polling in 16 assembly seats in tribal Santhal Parganas in Jharkhand in the fifth and final phase of polling today.

People queued up at the polling stations braving the winter morning chill and voting, which began at 7 AM, picked up as the day progressed.

The constituency-wise voting percentage till 9 am was 15% at Rajmahal, 17% at Borio, 15% at Barhait, 14% at Littipara, 16% at Pakur, 15% at Maheshpur and 15% at Shikaripara, an Election Commission release said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges people to vote in large numbers.

Jammu and Kashmir

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

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

BJP has high stakes in this phase as of the 20 seats going to polls, it had got the most (10) seats in the 2008 Assembly elections followed by Congress five, NC two, PDP one and Independents two.

Deputy Chief Minister and Congress candidate Tara Chand, who won the Chhamb seat in Jammu in 1996, 2002 and 2008 is fighting to retain the seat this time again.

Besides, Congress candidate from Akhnoor and Minister Sham Lal Sharma is looking at scoring a hat-trick.

Another Congress Minister Raman Bhalla is also looking at repeating his victory of 2002 and 2008 in Gandhi Nagar seat.

The election official said in Bani Assembly constituency 11 candidates are in the fray, in Basohli 12, Kathua 15, Billawar 8, Hiranagar 8, Nagrota 11, Gandhi Nagar 11, Jammu East 9, Jammu West 15, Bishnah 10, R S Pura 11, Suchetgarh 12, Marh 9, Raipur Domana 11, Akhnoor 8, Chhamb 10, Nowshera 11, Darhal 11, Rajouri 13, Kalakote 7.

JHARKHAND

Former minister Hari Narayan Rai, who contested as an independent from Jarmundi in the previous elections, is now contesting on a JMM ticket from the seat.

While the JMM has fielded candidates in all 16 seats, the BJP has put up 15 candidates.

There are 12 candidates, including one woman, from the Bahujan Samaj Party, while the Congress has fielded 11 candidates, including two women.

Other parties in the fray are CPI (four), CPI-M (six), NCP (two), JVM-P (15), RJD (six) and as many as 65 independent candidates, besides nominees of several registered parties.

Nala has a maximum 19 candidates, while Litipara has the least number of eight nominees.

According to the police, there is Maoist presence in only some pockets of Dumka and Pakur districts.

A total of 36,90,069 including 17,84,486 women voters will cast their votes in this round of the elections, with 2,31,148 voters in the age group of 18-19 years.

Of the 16 seats, nine are general, while seven are reserved for tribals. Pakur has the largest number of 2,91,379 voters and Barhait has the least 1,85,679 voters.

The seats going for polls on December 20 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.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement