Jharkhand polls: Voters defy Maoists, cast ballots

Ranchi, Dec 2: Defying Maoists, nearly a third of voters cast their ballots Tuesday morning in the second phase of the Jharkhand assembly election.

Jharkhand witnessed 31.35 percent polling till 11 a.m.

The highest polling was recorded in Chaibasa where the voter turnout was 45 percent and the lowest turnout with 20.15 percent was in Sisai.

Polling for second phase of poll began at 7 a.m. in 20 constituencies.

Nearly 70 percent of the seats fall under Maoist affected areas, where there were long queues at polling stations.

Over 44 lakh voters will decide the fate of 223 candidates in the fray.

A total of 5,051 polling booths have been set up for the second phase.

Balloting will end at 3 p.m. in 18 constituencies, while polling will continue till 5 p.m. in Jamshedpur (East) and Jamshedpur (West).

In the second phase, 17 of the 20 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won eight of the seats in the 2009 assembly polls.

Two former chief ministers - Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda - are contesting from Seraikela and Majhgao seats, respectively. The political fate of three Jharkhand Ministers Banna Gupta, Geetasri Oraon of Congress and Champai Soren of JMM will also be decided in the second phase.

IANS