Jharkhand Assembly polls: 13.03 % voter turnout (Lead 9 a.m.)

Jharkhand witnessed 13.03 per cent polling till 9 a.m. on Saturday for the second phase of the Assembly polls.

The highest polling has been recorded in the Sraikel Assembly seat with 15.66 per cent and lowest at Kolebira with 8.5 per cent

The polling which started at 7 a.m. will end at 3 p.m. Whereas for the two Assembly seats, Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West, it will conclude at 5 p.m.

For the 20 Assembly seats, where voting was underway, the fate of 260 candidates will be decided by 48,25,038 voters including 23,93,437 women. Voting was taking place in 6,066 polling booths of which 1,016 are located in urban areas and the rest in rural areas.

Police sources said that more than 40,000 security forces have been deployed in the second phase, which is taking place in the Maoist affected areas.

Of the 20 seats, 16 are reserved for the Schedule Tribe (ST) and one for the Schedule Caste (SC).

Chief Minister Raghubar Das is contesting from the Jamshedpur East seat, where he is pitted against former cabinet colleague Saryu Rai and Congress spokesperson Gaurabh Vallabh.

Also in the fray in this phase are Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon, Urban Development Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda, Water Resources Minister Ramchandra Sahis, former cabinet minister Saryu Rai and state BJP President Laxman Giluwa.

Jailed Maoist commander Kunadan Pahan is fighting from the Tamar Assembly seat.

( With inputs from IANS )