Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: Polls to be held in the state across five phases

The Election
Commission (EC) on Friday announced the schedule for Jharkhand Assembly
Election 2019. The elections will be held in the state across five phases,
starting November 30, while counting of votes will be done on December 23.

The four
other dates on which the elections will be held are December 7, 12, 16 and 20.
Voting will be conducted in all 81 Assembly constituencies in the state.

In the first
phase, elections will be held on 13 seats. In the second and third phases, 20
and 17 constituencies respectively, will go to polls.

The Model
Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect as soon as the CEC’s press conference
got over.

After
Maharashtra and Haryana, Jharkhand will be the third BJP-ruled state to go to
polls this year. There are 2.65 crore voters in the state.

In 2014, the
BJP and All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) had contested the poll together
and had won 42 seats. While the BJP bagged 37 seats on its own,  its ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU)
won five. Raghubar Das of the BJP was sworn in as the Chief Minister.

The
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which had held the state in 2009, won only 18
seats and its former ally, the Congress, was wiped out, winning just eight
seats in the 81-member Assembly.

This year as
well, the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have decided to contest
the elections jointly, however, they are yet to finalise seat sharing formula.
According to state Congress chief Rameshwar Oraon, the Congress has agreed to
be the junior partner to the JMM.