3.24 cr voters to press button in 3 ‘difficult states’

The Election Commission is busy making final arrangements for the first phase of polling in what are being called the ‘‘difficult ...

The Election Commission is busy making final arrangements for the first phase of polling in what are being called the ‘‘difficult states’’ — Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana. Over 3.24 crore people would cast their ballot in these three states tomorrow.

‘‘As much as the law and order situation, violations of the model code of conduct by political parties has been a big problem in these states. However, we have deployed enough security forces for smooth polling tomorrow,’’ an EC official said.

Pre-poll statistics released by the Election Commission show that about 1.42 crore electors are entitled to exercise their vote in Bihar, 54.5 lakh in Jharkhand and a total of 1.28 crore voters in Haryana are eligible to cast their franchise.

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Keeping security and law and order issues in mind, Bihar and Jharkhand would have elections in three phases — February 3, 13 and 23 — unlike Haryana.

A total of 983 candidates are contesting elections for the 90-member Assembly in Haryana. In the first phase alone, Bihar has as many as 826 candidates fighting for 64 seats and 402 candidates for 24 seats in Jharkhand. The states have still a long way to go in terms of gender equity. Of the total 2,211 candidates contesting the elections in the first phase, 68 women contestants would try their luck in Bihar, 60 in Haryana and a nominal 13 in Jharkhand.

The Election Commission has set up 32,062 polling stations for the first phase. Of these, 13,878 polling stations would be in place for conducting elections in 64 of the 243 constituencies in Bihar, 5,346 polling booths would be functional for the 24 of the 81 seats in Jharkhand.