The fate of 267 chairpersons for different municipal councils and
notified area committee and 3,623 ward councillors were sealed in the
EVMs, whereas the electorate of RMC and Bundu notified area committee
would decide the fate of a mayor, a chairperson of the notified area
committee and 67 councillors.

While conducting the polls on a
day when the Maoists had given a call for a statewide bandh is being
considered an achievement of the State Election Commission, credit goes
to the police machinery for ensuring violence and incident-free
elections. Police spokesperson Richard Lakra
said no report of any violent incident or efforts to disrupt electoral
process was received from any part of the state till late in the
evening.

Jharkhandstate election commissioner
S D Sharma said the progress of polling was not same in every district.
While in some of the areas, it concluded ahead of scheduled time, while
in some of the booths voters turned up till the last hour. “We have got
the report of turnout till 3pm and the 5pm figure is yet to arrive at
the headquarters,” he said. Sharma said no reports of violence or
hooliganism were obtained from any district.

“As far as
recommendation of repolling on the basis of rigging or violation of
norms is concerned, we have to wait for the report of the returning
officer. The commission will come up with it final comment on Monday,”
he said.

In Garhwa, except a few incidents of alleged rigging
and clash between two aspirants of ward councillors, polling was
peaceful. Of the total 24,808 voters, 17,348 voters exercised their
franchise, registering 69.92% turnout. While the maximum 83.82% votes
were polled in ward 18, minimum 60.37% votes were polled in ward 14.

In Palamu also, polling was incident-free despite Maoist bandh. SP A T
Mathew said a carbine with ammunition was recovered by police on
Saturday in a congested area of the town.