Police officials carry Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Ranchi. (PTI)
The high-pitched campaign for the fourth of the five-phase Jharkhand Assembly election involving 15 constituencies ended today.
While in Dhanbad and Bokaro constituencies, the campaign ended at 5 pm, in the remaining seats it ended at 3 pm.
The 15 constituencies are: Madhupur, Deogarh (SC), Bagodar, Jamua (SC), Gandey, Giridih, Dumri, Bokaro, Chandankyari (SC), Sindri, Nirsa, Dhanbad, Jharia, Tundi and Baghmara.
Among the 15 there are several which are affected by Maoist violence.
Out of the total 217 candidates, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Bahujan Samaj Party have fielded the maximum of 14 candidates each followed by the Jharkhand Vikas Party (Prajatantrik-13 candidates), CPI (three) CPI (M) and NCP in two seats each.
There are a total of 43,48,709 voters eligible to choose their candidates and the electorate boasts of as many as 2,23,626 voters in the 18/19 age group.
Political heavy weights, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appealed to the electorate to vote for a majoirty to put Jharkhand on the track of development.
Three ministers - Mannan Mallick (Congress-Dhanbad), Suresh Paswan (RJD-Deogarh) and Haji Hussain Ansari (JMM-Madhupur)- are among 217 candidates, including 16 women, in the fray. As many as 11 MLAs are also seeking re-election.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, whose fate has already been sealed at Dhanwar seat in the third phase polling, is locked in a battle with his former 'disciple' Nirbhay Sahabadi of the BJP from Giridih seat.
Sahabadi had won the seat on Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM-Prajatantric) ticket in the 2009 Assembly poll before leaving Marandi to join the BJP.
As per their pre-poll tie-up, the BJP is contesting in 13 seats while its parther AJSU Party in two. Similarly allies Congress/RJD are contesting in eight and four respectively.
With 28 candidates, Bokaro has the maximum nominees while Jamua, Chandankyari and Tundi have the minimum of ten candidates each.
In all, 716 out of 3,718 polling stations are marked as highly sensitive and 2007 as sensitive and only 615 polling station locations are situated in urban areas.
The Election Commission assigned 335 polling stations for webcasting.
The EC has also deployed 27,410 polling personnel across the 15 constituencies with 5,482 Control Units for EVM and 6,978 ballot units.
VVPAT (Voter verified paper audi trail) will be used in a combined total of 917 polling stations in Bokaro and Dhanbad.
Apart from the Prime Minister who in his speeches ridiculed his opponents saying they had become "bankrupt of issues", Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh BJP president Amit Shah, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, JMM supremo Shibu Soren, state Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Congress leader Raj Babbar took part in the campaigning.