Ranchi/Sri Nagar, Dec 20 (IANS): Balloting began Saturday in 16 of the 81 assembly constituencies in the last round of the five-phase elections in Jharkhand. Voters of 20 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir also began balloting in the final phase.
In Jharkhand, over 36 lakh voters, including more than 17 lakh women, will decide the fate of 208 candidates -- 16 of them women -- in the fray.
Balloting will take place at 3,773 polling booths out of which 833 booths have been declared as very sensitive, while another 1,496 have been declared sensitive.
Voting began at 7 a.m. and will take place till 3 p.m.
The fate of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), will be decided in this phase. Soren, who is the sitting legislator from Dumka, is contesting from both Dumka and Barhet.
Other prominent candidates are assembly Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta, minister Lobin Hembrom, Sita Soren, who is the daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren and sister-in-law of the state chief minister, Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Louise Marandi, and former minister Simon Marandi.
In Kashmir, the constituencies are spread over Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts. Over 18 lakh voters are eligible to decide the political fate of 213 candidates.
Prominent candidates include Sham Lal Sharma (Akhnoor), Raman Bhalla (Gandhinagar), Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (Chhamb) and Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar).
A total of 2,366 polling stations have been set up.
The constituencies going to polls are Bani, Basohli, Billawar, Kathua and Hiranagar in Kathua district, Nagrota, Gandhinagar, Jammu East, Jammu West, Bishnah, R.S. Pura, Suchetgarh, Akhnoor, Chhamb, Marh and Raipur Domana in Jammu district, and Rajouri, Darhal, Kalakote and Nowshera in Rajouri district.
The BJP had won 11 of the 20 seats, the Congress five and the National Conference three. The Peoples Democratic Party had one member.
Polling started at 8 a.m. and will end at 4 p.m. Votes will be counted Dec 23.
In the outgoing 87-member assembly, the National Conference had 28 members, the PDP 21, the Congress 17 and the BJP 11 legislators.