Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2019: Voting to be held in 5 phases from Nov 30; result on Dec 23

New Delhi, Nov 01: The Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Friday announced that Jharkhand Assembly Elections will be held in five phases, beginning November 30, and the results will be announced on December 23.

The other days on which voting will take place are December 7, December 12, December 16, and December 20. The term of the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly ends on January 5 next year.

The BJP is hoping to retain power in the tribal-dominated state, where the saffron party won 37 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections. In the previous election, the BJP was able to form the government after six MLAs from ex-chief minister Babulal Marandi's party Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) joined the BJP soon after the elections.

The BJP received 31.26 per cent of the total valid votes, followed by JMM, Congress, and JYM at 20.43 per cent, 10.46 per cent, and 9.99 per cent, respectively.

An alliance of opposition parties, mainly the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, is making a determined bid to oust the government headed by Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

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

The Jharkhand Legislative Assembly has 82 seats. While 81 members are directly elected by the people of the state, one is nominated.