Jharkhand recorded around 71 per cent voting in the fifth and final phase of polling on Friday for 16 Assembly constituencies.
Voters queue up at a polling station to cast their votes during the fourth phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections, in Deoghar on December 16. (Photo: IANS)
With the fifth and final phase of assembly election concluding in Jharkhand on Friday, the exit polls have predicted an edge for the pre-poll alliance of Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
India Today-Axis My India has claimed that the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance will get 38 to 50 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will get around 22-32 seats.
According to the Kashish News exit poll, JMM-Congress-RJD will get around 37-49 seats while the BJP will get 25-30 seats.
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The IANS-CVoter-ABP survey has given 35 seats to the JMM-Congress-RJD combine and 32 to the BJP.
In all the polls, Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) has emerged as the main gainer along with Sudesh Mahto-led All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).
The BJP is predicted to face a similar fate as in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The exit polls have also predicted that the Jharkhand state elections are likely to throw up a hung Assembly, where either Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) or All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), could emerge as king-makers.
In Maharashtra, long-time ally Shiv Sena, in a surprise move, joined sides with the Congress and NCP to form a coalition government in the state.
In Haryana, the party failed to get a majority on its own and had to forge a post-poll coalition with Dushyant Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
In the five-phase Jharkhand Assembly polls, BJP was harping on national issues, including the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that has sparked major unrest across the country.
The JMM-Congress-RJD combine, on the other hand, focussed on local issues and economic slowdown.
Jharkhand recorded around 71 per cent voting in the fifth and final phase of polling on Friday for 16 Assembly constituencies.
As per the reports by Election Commission of India, the approximate voter turnout for all the five phases is 65.17 per cent. For the last Legislative Assembly election in Jharkhand, the final voter turnout was 66.53 per cent.
Jharkhand went to elections from November 30 in five phases, with the second, third and fourth phases concluding on December 7, 12, and 16.
The counting of votes will take place on December 23 and the results will be declared on the same day.
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