Around 35 per cent voting was recorded till 1300 hrs on Wednesday in the first phase of elections to 26 Assembly seats in Jharkhand.

Adequate security measures were put in place along with air surveillance and no untoward incidents have been reported from anywhere in the constituencies so far. Prominent among the 470 candidates contesting the first phase are former speaker and Congress leader Alamgir Alam, ex-ministers Raghuvar Das, Dulal Bhuiyan (both BJP) and Aparna Sengupta (AIFB).

It is the second assembly election in Jharkhand after it was carved out from Bihar on November 15, 2000. The first Assembly election was held in 2005 which threw a hung Assembly that saw four governments in as many years, culminating in the imposition of President's Rule.