Jharkhand Assembly bypolls end peacefully

PANKI/GODDA: By-elections for the Panki and Godda Assembly constituencies today ended peacefully, election officials said.

The voting began at 7 AM and ended at 3 PM, the officials said, adding that around 64 per cent voting was registered in Panki, while around 65 per cent polling was recorded in Godda.

Amit Mandal (BJP), Sanjay Yadav (RJD) and former Odisha police chief Sanjiv Marik (JMM) are among the 16 candidates for the Godda seat, while Lal Suraj (BJP), Kushwaha Shashibhusan Mehta (JMM) and Devendra Kumar Singh (Congress) are among the nine candidates in the fray for the Panki seat.

Counting of votes will be held on May 19.

The seats fell vacant after the demise of Bidesh Singh (Panki) and Raghunandan Mandal (Godda) earlier this year.