STAGE SET FOR PENULTIMATE ROUND OF STATE POLLS TODAY

RANCHI: The fourth and penultimate round of Jharkhand elections is slated to take place on Monday, with 221 candidates across 15 assembly seats in the fray.

Of the 15 constituencies that will go to polls in the latest phase, five are in Maoist-affected regions, officials familiar with the matter said. “There are few pockets in this phase which are affected by Left-wing Extremism (LWE). Of a total of 6,101 polling stations across 15 constituencies, 587 stations are hyper-lwe-sensitive and 405 are Lwe-sensitive,” said state chief electoral officer Vinay Kumar Choubey.

The third phase of state elections was hit by violence as one person was killed and eight others injured after a mob clashed with security forces at a polling booth. In a separate incident, suspected Maoists had opened fire on returning poll officials.

Choubey said they have taken necessary steps to ensure safety of officials deployed on poll duty in the fourth phase. “Polling officials of 75 polling stations falling under Lwe-affected areas have been provided helicopter-drop the facility, while officials of 136 polling stations were taken to their cluster on Saturday,” he added.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 11 of the 15 seats that vote on Monday. Prominent political leaders, including state’s revenue, registration, and land reform minister Amar Kumar Bauri and labour, employment and training minister Raj Paliwar, are contesting in the fourth round of voting. Four seats— Nirsa, Bagodar, Sindri and Tundi — that are going to poll in this phase have traditionally been Left strongholds.