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.