Jharkhand, which has an 81-member assembly, is voting in five phases till December 20
Jharkhand voted today in the fourth of five rounds of polling for Assembly elections, with 15 seats up for grabs in this phase. Voter turnout was an estimated 62.5 per cent according to Election Commission (EC) officials.
The fourth phase saw two ministers from the ruling BJP among the big names in the fray, with Labour Minister Raj Paliwar and Land and Revenue Minister Amar Kumar Bauri contesting the Chandankiyari and Madhupur seats, respectively.
Of the two, Mr Bauri's fight against Umakant Razzak of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) is significant given the AJSU is a member of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the centre. Mr Paliwar faces Hussain Ansari of the opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's (JMM), which is in an alliance with the Congress, for the Madhupur seat.
Another interesting fight could take place in Jharia constituency, where the BJP has nominated Ragini Singh, the wife of incumbent MLA Sanjeev Singh who is in prison in connection with the murder of his cousin - Niraj Singh of the Congress.
In response the Congress has fielded Niraj Singh's widow, Purnima Niraj Singh.
Also up for election is the Deoghar constituency, a reserved seat, where the BJP's Narayan Das will look to defend his seat against Suresh Paswan of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), whom he beat by more than 45,000 votes in 2014 polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked all the voters to exercise their right.
"Polling for the fourth round in the Jharkhand Assembly elections today. I request all voters to cast their vote and become a part of this sacred festival of democracy," PM Modi tweeted.
PM Modi has been active in headlining election rallies in the state.
In a controversial section of his speech on Sunday afternoon, the Prime Minister congratulated the people of Assam for "keeping away from violence" amid widespread protests in the North East against the citizenship law. "You can easily make out who is spreading violence by the clothes they wear," he said.
A total of 47,85,009 people are eligible to cast their votes for the 15 seats going to polls today, Vinay Kumar Choubey, Jharkhand's Chief Electoral Officer, told news agency PTI.
Polling will be held in Deoghar, Jamua, Chandankiyari, Madhupur, Bagodar, Gandey, Giridih, Dumri, Bokaro, Sindri, Nirsa, Dhanbad, Jharia, Tundi and Baghmara constituencies spread across four districts of the state. Jamua, Deoghar and Chandankiyari seats are reserved constituencies.
The BJP, which rules the state in an alliance with the AJSU has nominated candidates for all seats in this phase, while the opposition alliance - the Congress and the JMM - have fielded candidates as per pre-poll seat sharing formulas.
A total of 221 candidates, including 23 women, are contesting this phase of polling.
Voting will commence at 7 am and end at 3 pm for the Jamua, Bagodar, Giridih, Dumri and Tundi seats but will continue till 5 pm everywhere else, Mr Choubey said.
In the first round of polling on November 30, a bridge in Bishnupur in Gumla district was blown up by Maoists. No one was injured in the incident.
Two incidents of violence were reported in the second phase of polling last Saturday. One person was killed and six others including policemen were injured in clashes and subsequent police firing in Gumla district. In the clashes at Sisai, an officer in-charge and two policemen were injured.
Jharkhand, which has an 81-member assembly, is voting in five phases till December 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 23.