Record 66 per cent turnout in 5-phase polls in Jharkhand

RANCHI: Jharkhand registered an overall 66 percentage turnout for the 81 assembly seats that was held in five phases and spanned over nearly four weeks which concluded with the polling held for 16 seats in the last phase today which recorded around 70.42 per cent polling.

"Overall 66 per cent polling has been registered in the five-phase elections, an increase of nine per cent from the previous 2009 elections," Chief Electoral Officer P K Jajoria said at a press conference.

This 66 per cent polling in five phase election is a record in Jharkhand as the state has not recorded so high polling in any election - assembly or Lok Sabha before after the creation of the state, the CEO said.

The fifth and final phase of polling for 16 seats ended peacefully today with no reports of any incidents, recording a massive 70.42 per cent polling.

The figures could be updated later, EC officials said. The previous four phase polling were held on November 25 (63.26 per cent voter turnout), December 2 (68.01 per cent), December 9 (63.96 per cent) and December 14 (64.63 per cent).

Altogether 1,136 candidates, including 111 women, contested in the five-phase elections for the total 81 seats with an eligible electorate of 2,08,52,437, including 98,93,540 female voters.

Out of the total seats, 28 are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and nine for the Scheduled Castes.