Around 46.83 per cent votes were cast till 1 pm on Saturday in the first phase of Jharkhand assembly elections in 13 constituencies, amid sporadic incidents of violence in some districts, officials said.
The voting commenced at 7 am and will end at 3 pm, Election Commission (EC) officials said.
A total of 37,83,055 electorate, including 18,01,356 women and five third-gender voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase across six districts.
This is the fourth assembly election in Jharkhand since 2000 when the state was carved out Bihar. The ruling BJP, which is contesting for the first time without an ally, faces a tough challenge from the united opposition parties. A total of 189 candidates are contesting in the first phase.
The district administration in Jharkhand has tightened the security in two assembly constituencies -- Latehar and Manika, where a Maoist attack took place a few days ago.
