Jharkhand Assembly Election to be held in five phases, first phase on November 30, counting on December 23

Election Commission of India on Friday, November 1 announced election schedule for Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. The model code of conduct now comes into effect.

The election will be held in five phases, polling for the first phase on November 30, the second phase on December 7, the third phase on December 12, fourth phase on December 16, fifth phase on December 20. Counting for all phases will be conducted on December 23.

The term of the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly ends on January 5 next year.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said, adequate security deployment is being done and special security arrangements are being put in place in Naxal-affected areas for Jharkhand Assembly polls.

Out of 90 districts in Jharkhand, 19 are Maoist-affected, said Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.

There has been “twenty per cent increase in the number of polling stations,” he informed.

There were speculations that the EC would announce the schedule for the Delhi Assembly elections along with that of Jharkhand, but the EC invite only refers to poll schedule for the eastern state.

In Jharkhand, Chief Minister Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party is currently in power.

In 2014, while the BJP won 37 seats, its ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) won five.

The combined tally was enough for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to cross the majority mark of 41 in the 81-member Assembly.

The election comes at a time when the Haryana and Maharashtra elections have not yielded results as per the expectations of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP fell short of the majority mark and had to seek Jannayak Janata Party (JJP)'s support to form the government.

In Maharashtra, the BJP is engaged in a power tussle with its ally Shiv Sena over government formation. The BJP is significantly short of being able to form the government in Maharashtra on its own.