23 December,2009 09:27 AM IST | | IANS
Counting of votes polled in the five-phased Jharkhand assembly elections began Wednesday morning amid heavy security.
There are about 30,000 security forces and 5,200 officials at the 31 counting centres in the state.
The staggered polls to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly was held between Nov 25 and Dec 18. A total of 1,511 candidates were in the fray and a 58 percent voter turnout was recorded.
The vote count is finally expected to end the president's rule in the state. President's rule was imposed on Jan 19 after then chief minister Shibu Soren lost the Tamar assembly by-election.
Major political parties are claiming that they are sure to get the majority required to form the next government.
The two major alliances for whom the stakes are high are the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) combine.
