Live: Jharkhand to vote in 5 phases, counting of votes on December 23, says CEC

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the schedule for Assembly elections in Jharkhand which will be held in five phases, beginning November 30, and the results will be announced on December 23. The other days on which voting will take place are December 7, December 12, December 16, and December 20.

The announcement was made by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora at a press briefing during which he said that the Model Code of Conduct will come into force in the state immediately. The five-year term of the state Assembly will expire on January 5, 2020, he said.

Arora said Income-Tax officials will be deployed in every district to effectively monitor the expenditure. During the press briefing, the CEC said that the Special forces will be deployed to tackle left-wing extremism in Jharkhand during the assembly election.

He added that at least 19 districts in Jharkhand are affected by Left Wing Extremists and 13 of them are extremely affected. 

In the last assembly election, Raghuvar Das of the BJP was sworn in as the Chief Minister on December 28, 2014.

The BJP had won 37 seats, and its ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) could win five. JMM was the largest opposition party in the state with 17 seats, JVM(P) won 8 and Congress managed only 6 seats. The combined tally of BJP-AJSU was enough for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to cross the majority mark of 41 in the 81-member Legislative Assembly. After the formation of the government, 6 MLAs of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik had joined the BJP.

Raghuvar Das has faced opposition from tribals over the Land Acquisition Bill (2017), and amendments to the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPTA) and Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CTA), compelling the state government to withdraw the amendments later amid protests.

The results of the recently concluded Assembly polls in the two states of Maharashtra and Haryana are expected to have an impact on the elections in Jharkhand. The poll outcome of these two states would make the BJP cautious, while Opposition parties could learn lessons from their losses in Haryana and Maharashtra.

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