Jammu/Ranchi: Stage is set for the fifth and final leg of Assembly polls in Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir which will take place on Saturday.
Several high-profile candidates, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, will try their luck in 20 seats spread over three districts of Jammu amid a strong security deployment. In Jharkhand, the fate of heavyweights including Chief Minister Hemant Soren will be decided in his phase.
In J&K, after a record voter turnout in the previous four phases, particularly in Kashmir Valley, there are expectations of a high voter turnout in Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts in Jammu region as well.
Unfazed by the November 27 militant attack in Arnia border belt of Jammu district in which 12 people including five civilians and four militants were killed, high-pitched campaigning continued till last evening.
As many as 213 candidates, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Ministers Sham Lal Sharma, Raman Bhalla, Manohar Lal Sharma, Ajay Sadhotra, former MP and ministers Lal Singh, Talib Hussain (both BJP) and Jitendra Babu Singh and former Deputy Speaker Hyder Malik will be battling it out in this phase.
“All measures and arrangements have been put in place for tomorrow’s polls,” Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Division, Shant Manu said.
Manu said 400 companies of security personnel (each company as approximately 100 personnel) will be deployed for tomorrow’s polling apart from the regular deployment of police forces.
As many as 18, 28,904 eligible voters, comprising 9, 59,011 men and 8, 69,891 women, are expected to exercise their franchise at 2,366 polling stations set up across the three border districts.
In Jharkhand, altogether 208 candidates, including 16 women are testing their luck in this phase, an EC release said.
Polling will begin at 7am and end at 3pm in all the 16 constituencies.
Among the heavyweights, Hemant Soren, the JMM leader, is contesting from Dumka, apart from Barhait constituency, where he is facing challenge from former Morcha leader and BJP candidate Hemlal Murmu.
Assembly Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta is seeking re-election from Sarath, while state Rural Works Minister Lobin Hembrom is in the fray from Borio constituency – both being JMM candidates.
Besides Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Murmu nee Soren, who is seeking re-election from Jama, there are three JMM MLAs, one MLA each of Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and the RJD in the fray.
Former minister Hari Narayan Rai, who contested as an independent from Jarmundi in the previous elections, is now contesting on a JMM ticket from the seat.
While the JMM has fielded candidates in all 16 seats, the BJP has put up 15 candidates.
There are 12 candidates, including one woman, from the Bahujan Samaj Party, while the Congress has fielded 11 candidates, including two women.
Other parties in the fray are CPI (four), CPI-M (six), NCP (two), JVM-P (15), RJD (six) and as many as 65 independent candidates, besides nominees of several registered parties.
Nala has a maximum 19 candidates, while Litipara has the least number of eight nominees.
According to the police, there is Maoist presence in only some pockets of Dumka and Pakur districts.
A total of 36, 90,069 including 17, 84,486 women voters will cast their votes in this round of the elections, with 2, 31,148 voters in the age group of 18-19 years.
Of the 16 seats, nine are general, while seven are reserved for tribals. Pakur has the largest number of 2, 91,379 voters and Barhait has the least 1, 85,679 voters.