Bhubaneswar: Jhakhand saw 13.04% voting by 9 am on Wednesday in 43 seats, which are going to polls in the first phase of the elections to 81-member state legislative assembly.
Odisha Governor and former Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das along with his family also cast their votes at a polling station in Jamshedpur. “It is the responsibility of the people to come out and use their rights right to vote…If women are not developed, the country will never develop. In a democracy, women are coming out in large numbers, I respect them…,” he told ANI.
Meanwhile in Odisha, police have tightened security in Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts, sharing borders with the neighbouring state, to ensure peaceful voting there. “After a meeting with the Election Commission of India, we have already established 29 check posts. Patrolling has been intensified in all sensitive areas. The purpose behind this deployment is to not allow any criminal enter Jharkhand from Odisha, which may lead to any kind of violence or criminal activity…,” said ADG (Law and Order) Sanjay Kumar.
Jharkhand-bound trains and buses are also being checked, he added.
According to reports, Sundargarh police are also in touch with their counterparts in West Singhbhum district to thwart any attempt by Maoists to disrupt the elections amid boycott call by Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) outfit.