Ranchi, April 17 (IANS) Polling began for six Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand Thursday morning amidst a boycott call given by Maoist guerrillas.
The six seats where polling is taking place include Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Chaibasa, Khuti, Giridih and Hazaribagh. Maoist guerrillas have significant presence in all the six constituencies.
A total of 8,525,179 voters will decide the political fate of 106 candidates.
“The new electors in the age group of 18-19 years are 388,301. The voting will take place at 10,177 polling stations, of which 2,779 are highly sensitive, 3,070 are sensitive,” an Election Commission official told IANS.
The commission has appointed 1,946 micro observers to monitor the polling.
Of the total number of the polling booths, 763 have been covered with video cameras, 1,194 with still cameras and 600 through webcasting.
Around 45,000 security personnel drawn from para-military forces, state police, and home guards have been deployed.
Six choppers are being used during the election, of which two have been deployed for air surveillance.
