Voting begins for first phase of Jharkhand polls

Voting for 26 of the 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand began at 7 a.m. Wednesday amid heavy security arrangements, an official said.

In the first phase of the polling, 470 candidates including 194 independents are in the fray. Polling for this phase would be held at 8176 polling stations with the use of 13850 electronic voting machines (EVMs) and 65,32,234 voters would be eligible to vote.

The Jharkhand Bharatiya Janta Party President Raghubar Das, state Janta Dal-United president Jaleshwar Mahto and state Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu are also candidates in the assembly-seats covered by the first phase.