Ranchi: Campaigning for the polling in Jharkhand's three Lok Sabha constituencies to be held on April 29 ended on Saturday afternoon. Monday's voting will be the first phase in the BJP-ruled state and the fourth in the country.
Addressing poll rallies in Jharkhand this week, a host of top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah appealed to the people to re-elect the NDA to take forward the developmental works and protect the country's security.
No prominent national level leaders of opposition parties campaigned in the three seats - Lohardaga (ST), Chatra and Palamu (SC) - in the run up to the elections, campaigning for which ended at 4 PM.
Hindustani Awam Morcha chief Jiten Ram Manjhi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren of the JMM addressed election meetings in the seats held by the BJP.
Altogether 45,26,693 voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in this phase while the number of candidates is 59 including Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Sudarshan Bhagat.
As there are some Naxal pockets in Palamu and Chatra, borders with Bihar have been sealed and adequate security arrangements have been made for the polling to be held between 7 am and 4 pm on April 29, a government official said.
The BJP had won 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014, while the JMM secured two.
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