Jharkhand: Election commission refutes JMM’s allegations

Ranchi: The Election Commission has dismissed the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) allegations regarding the voting hours in rural areas calling them baseless and without facts. Responding to JMM’s objections, the Chief Electoral Officer clarified that the claims about reduced voting hours in rural areas are false.

According to the Election Commission, the state has a total of 29,562 polling stations, of which 24,520 are in rural areas and 5,042 in urban areas. “Except for 981 polling stations in Naxal-affected rural areas, voting hours in 23,539 rural and all urban polling stations will be from 7 AM to 5 PM,” the commission said.

The statement also compared the current voting schedule with previous elections. “In the 2014 and 2019 state elections, 89% and 63% of polling stations respectively had voting hours from 7 AM to 3 PM. This time, only 3% (981) of polling stations have voting hours from 7 AM to 4 PM, thanks to the Commission’s special efforts,” the commission added.

The Election Commission further emphasized that voting hours are made public and any voter standing in line at the end of the polling time will still be allowed to cast their vote.