Jharkhand is all set to vote in Phase 1 on Wednesday with 683 candidates in the fray for the 43 seats. Out of the 43, 17 seats are reserved for general, 20 for scheduled tribes and 6 seats for scheduled castes. These seats are distributed across the Kolhan coal belt, the tribal-majority South Chotanagpur area, and the northern region of Palamu. The first phase of voting comes amid a heated campaign in which the BJP-led NDA and JMM-led INDIA bloc were locked in a fierce verbal fight over alleged demographic change in the state's tribal region. 


Total Voters, Polling Booths


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A total of 1.37 crore voters out of the total 2,60 crore are eligible to participate in the voting on November 13. For the first phase of elections, 15,344 polling stations have been established, with 12,716 situated in rural areas and 2,628 in urban regions.


Key Candidates


The key candidates in the first phase include former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Champai Soren, who is in the fray from Seraikella. In Jamshedpur East, Congress leader Ajoy Kumar is pitted against Purnima Das Sahu, daughter-in-law of former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Odisha Governor Raghubar Das. In Jamshedpur West, Congress leader Banna Gupta is taking on JD(U) leader Saryu Roy, who had defeated Raghubar Das. In Jaganathpur, BJP's Geeta Koda, wife of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda is pitted against Congress leader Sona Ram Sinku. JMM has fielded sitting Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji from Ranchi.


Who Has An Edge - NDA or INDIA


When compared to the 2019 assembly elections and the assembly-wise trends as per the Lok Sabha polls 2024, the NDA appears to have an edge against the INDIA bloc. In the 2019 assembly polls, the JMM had won 30 seats and the BJP had bagged 25 seats. A total of 17 of the JMM's 30 seats and 13 of the BJP's 25 were among the 43 going to the polls on Wednesday. The Congress had won 16 seats with eight of these coming from these 43 seats. However, as per the Lok Sabha polls results, the BJP is leading in at least 26 of the 43 Assembly segments while the Congress led in 12 segments and the JMM in six.