64% turnout recorded in Jharkhand LS polls

Ranchi, May 6 (IANS) Jharkhand on Monday recorded around 64 per cent voter turnout in the second phase of polling in the state that took place in four parliamentary constituencies, an official said.

The polling that began at 7 a.m ended at 4 p.m.

Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Khuti constituencies recorded 62.30 per cent, 62.91 per cent, 65.70 per cent and 64.10 per cent voter turnout, respectively, till 11 a.m, the Election Commission data showed.

Jharkhand Governor Draupdi Mumru, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and former Chief Minister Arjun Munda were among those exercising their franchise.

Long queues of voters were seen in all the four Lok sabha constituencies. The voters turned out in good numbers despite the fact that all the four constituencies, particularly Khuti, are close to Maoist affected areas.

In the afternoon, polling slowed down a bit. Overall, 45 per cent polling was recorded till 1 p.m.

Voting started half-an-hour late at five polling booths in Khuti and Koderma Lok Sabha seats.

A total of 61 candidates are in fray for the four seats -- 14 in Koderma, 20 in Ranchi, 11 in Khunti and 16 in Hazaribagh -- and the combined strength of eligible voters there is 65,87,028.

In all, 8,834 polling booths were set up to facilitate smooth voting.

The prominent candidates in the race for these seats are Rajkumar Yadav of the CPI(ML), Babulal Marandi of JVM(P) and Annapurna Devi of the BJP in Koderma; Sanjay Seth of the BJP and Subodhkant Sahai of the Congress in Ranchi; Arjun Munda of the BJP and Kalicharan Munda of the Congress in Khunti; and Jayant Sinha of the BJP, Gopal Sahu of the Congress and Bhuneshwar Prasad Mehta of the CPI in Hazaribagh.