Ranchi, February 27 Arvind Rana, a journalist for a Hindi newspaper, won the mayoral position in the civic elections for the Hazaribag Municipal Corporation by defeating his nearest Congress-backed rival, Sarfarz, the results of which were announced on Friday.
An official stated that in Ranchi, the BJP-backed mayoral candidate, Roshni Khalkho, was leading by 13,511 votes against the Congress-supported Rama Khalkho after the first round of counting. As many as five rounds of counting are scheduled to take place.
The counting of votes for the elections to 48 urban local bodies in Jharkhand began on Friday morning and will conclude on Saturday, as State Election Commission Secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad stated.
"Ballot papers were segregated in the initial stage of the counting. Voting was conducted using two colors of ballot papers – white and pink – for the election of councilors and mayors or chairpersons, respectively," he said.
Prasad stated that the results are being announced as the counting progresses.
The civic elections were not contested using the electoral symbols of political parties, but candidates are backed by political parties.
The elections were held on February 23, with over 63 per cent of the total 43 lakh voters exercising their franchise.
Elections were held for the positions of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, as well as for councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads, and 19 nagar panchayats.
There are 1,087 wards in the 48 ULBs, but elections were held in 1,042 wards, as 41 councillors were elected unopposed. Three wards remained vacant after no nominations were received, while polling in one ward of the Mango Municipal Corporation was countermanded following the death of a candidate.
A total of 562 candidates, including 235 women, were contesting for the positions of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 aspirants, including 2,727 women, were contesting for the positions of ward councillors.