Counting of votes for Jharkhand Assembly election begins

Ranchi: Counting of votes for 81 Assembly constituencies in Jharkhand began at 8 am on Monday, Election Commission officials said.

The election was held in five phases between November 30 and December 20.

Among the prominent candidates are Chief Minister Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur East, the chief ministerial candidate of the opposition JMM, Congress, RJD alliance Hemant Soren from Dumka and Barhait and former chief minister Babulal Marandi, also the president of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), from Dhanwar.

Counting began at 8 am in all the district headquarters, the officials said.

Postal ballots will be taken up first and votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) will begin at 8.30 am, they said.