Stage set for voting in four Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand on Monday

The stage is set for voting in Jharkhand's four Lok Sabha constituencies—Singhbhum, Khunti, Lohardaga and Palamu— on Monday amidst heavy security deployment in all polling booths.

More than 64.37 lakh electors including 32.07 lakh female voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the four constituencies in the state, an election official said.

Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), K Ravi Kumar told PTI, "All preparations have been completed to hold the polls free and fair in four Lok Sabha constituencies. Elaborate security arrangements have been ensured in every booth across four constituencies." Kumar, who on Sunday took stock of several booths in Jharkhand's Latehar district, said that polling parties have started moving to their respective booths and the process will be complete by 3 pm Sunday. "In Maoist hit areas, polling parties have been airdropped," he said.

The CEO said that they have given a slogan 'Is Baar, Din Bhar Matdan (whole day voting this time)' in order to increase the participation of voters in polling. The voting will start at 7 am and it will conclude at 5 pm on Monday, Kumar said.

Of the four Lok Sabha seats, three are reserved for Schedule Tribe (ST), while Palamu is reserved for Schedule Caste (SC) candidates. Interestingly, the number of female voters is more than the number of male voters in three tribal seats.

As many as 7,595 polling stations have been set up across the four parliamentary constituencies and they have been developed as model booths, another election official said. Of the total polling stations, 519 stations will be managed by women and 14 by persons with disabilities (PwD). The webcasting facility will be available in all polling stations, he said.

A total of 45 candidates, including seven from Khunti, 15 from Lohardaga, nine from Palamu and 14 from Singhbhum, are in the poll fray.

An interesting fight is likely in all three tribal seats as the JMM-led ruling alliance and the BJP-led opposition in Jharkhand have put their all efforts to galvanize people's support in their favour.

In Singhbhum, BJP's Geeta Kora, who had won the seat on Congress ticket in 2019, has locked horns with INDIA bloc's Joba Manjhi, who is a JMM MLA from Manoharpur assembly seat.

Khunti is heading for a direct fight between Union Minister and BJP nominee Arjun Munda and INDIA bloc's Kalicharan Munda. The Union Minister had defeated Kalicharan in a close contest by a margin of 1,445 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Lohardaga seat might see a triangular contest after JMM's Bishunpur MLA Chamra Linda filed nomination as an Independent candidate against BJP's Samri Oraon and INDIA bloc's Sukhdeo Bhagat. The Lohardaga seat went to Congress party as per the seat-sharing agreement in the JMM-led ruling alliance.

The Palamu seat is set for a direct fight between the BJP's sitting MP Vishnu Dayal Ram and RJD's Mamta Bhuiyan as INDIA bloc candidate.

Of the 45 candidates, 13 have declared criminal cases against them in their affidavits while filing nomination papers.

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