Elderly voters show their fingers marked with indelible ink after casting votes during the 1st phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections, in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. Photo: X/@DEO_hazaribagh
LIVE: Jharkhand | 46.25% voter turnout recorded till 1 pm
Over 1.37 crore voters will cast their ballots in Jharkhand, with 6 Cabinet ministers among the 683 candidates
Voting began on Wednesday morning (November 13) in 43 of Jharkhand’s 81 Assembly constituencies in the first phase, for by-elections in 31 Assembly seats across the country, and also for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.
Over 1.37 crore voters cast their ballots, with six Cabinet ministers among the 683 candidates.
Update: 46.25% voter turnout was recorded till 1 pm in Jharkhand, as per the Election Commission (EC)
In Jharkhand’s first phase of polling, significant contests include Seraikella, where former chief minister Champai Soren is contesting as a BJP candidate for the first time, and Jamshedpur East, where Congress candidate Ajoy Kumar, a former Jamshedpur SP, faces off against BJP's Purnima Das Sahu, the daughter-in-law of former Jharkhand Chief Minister and current Odisha Governor Raghubar Das.
Polling began in Jharkhand around 7 AM across 15 districts and will continue till 5 PM. However, voting in 950 booths will end at 4 pm, though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to exercise their franchise, an official said.
Long queues were seen before a number of booths in the morning.
In the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-poll, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her election debut. The by-election was necessitated after Priyanka's brother and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat. He retained Rae Bareli.
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Live Updates
- 13 Nov 2024 10:27 AM IST
10.14% voting till 9 am in three Assembly segments of Karnataka
An estimated overall 10.14 per cent voter turnout was recorded during the first two hours, since the voting began for by-polls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka on Wednesday, election officials said.
The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm.
More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates are in the fray.
While Channapatna recorded 10.34 per cent voter turnout till 9 am, it was 10.08 per cent in Shiggaon, and 9.99 per cent in Sandur, election officials said.
Voters, including women and elderly were seen queuing up in front of polling booths in these segments.
By-polls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna are necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) -- to Lok Sabha in May elections.
As many as 31 candidates are in the fray from Channapatna, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.
