One Down, Four To Go

More than a fortnight still remains till it becomes clear which party or alliance will form the next government in Jharkhand—counting of votes for the ongoing assembly elections will be taken up on December 23. But the first phase of polling on November 30 showed a more than 64 per cent voter turnout, indicating growing enthusiasm for the democratic process in a state in which Maoist diktats often kept people away from polling centres. The 13 constituencies, which went to the polls, are affected by Maoist violence. But barring a few sporadic cases, polling was event-free.

The first phase saw some heavyweights in the fray, but no contest was perhaps as big as the battle for Lohardaga where state Congress president Rameshwar Oraon is taking on former state Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat, who switched over to the BJP ahead of the polls. All eyes will be also on Chhatarpur, where ex-BJP chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore is contesting on an AJSU ticket. Kishore joined the AJSU after he was denied candidature by BJP.

AJSU, a long-time ally of the ruling BJP, parted ways after its demands for more seats were not met by the saffron leadership. BJP, which formed the government in 2014 with the help of AJSU, is contesting this election alone. The opposition alliance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is hoping to give a strong fight to BJP this time. Elections to the rest of the seats in the 81-member ass­embly will be held on December 7, 12, 16 and 20.