Lok Sabha polls to be held in Jharkhand in four phases

Polls will be held in four phases for the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.Singhbhum, Khunti and Lohardaga and Palamu will vote on May 13, while Chatra, Koderma and Hazaaribag will go to the polls on May 20.

Polls will be held in four phases for the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.

Singhbhum, Khunti and Lohardaga and Palamu will vote on May 13, while Chatra, Koderma and Hazaaribag will go to the polls on May 20. Polling will be held for Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi and Jamshedpur on May 25, and Rajmahal, Dumka and Godda will vote on June 1.

Of the 14 Lok Sabha seats, five are reserved for STs and one for SCs. There are more than 2.55 crore voters in the state -- 1.29 crore male, 1.25 crore female and 407 transgenders. Among them are 22 lakh first-time voters and 3.6 lakh persons with disability.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar said, ''Adequate security forces will be deployed in all 29,521 polling stations in the state to conduct free and fair polls. Besides, arrangements are also being made to monitor all polling stations through webcasting.'' Helicopters will be used for the movement of polling personnel in difficult terrains, he said.

Chief Minister Champai Soren claimed the ruling coalition of the state led by his JMM would win all the 14 Lok Sabha seats. ''Party workers from the block level to the state level are working. Hemant Soren is the leader of our party and also the executive president. We had contested the assembly polls under his leadership, and will fight the Lok Sabha polls under him,'' he told reporters. On seat-sharing with the Congress, he said that it would be announced in a day or two. BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Aditya Sahu said his party is ready to fight the elections and has already announced candidates, but the opponent parties are yet to decide on the sharing of seats.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won 11 of the 14 seats in the state, its ally AJSU Party bagged one, while the Congress and JMM secured one seat each.

The last Lok Sabha elections were also held in four phases in Jharkhand.

While the JMM and its ally Congress are yet to name any candidate as negotiations for the sharing of seats are still continuing, the BJP has announced nominees for 11 of the 14 constituencies.

Of the 11, four are new candidates -- Geeta Kora who switched over from the Congress, Rajya Sabha MP Samir Oraon, Tala Marandi and Manish Jaiswal.

The seven other candidates will seek re-election from their respective constituencies. They include Union ministers Arjun Munda (Khunti) and Annapurna Devi (Koderma).