Ranchi, February 23 Around 12 percent voter turnout was recorded by 9 am in the civic polls to 48 urban local bodies in Jharkhand on Monday, an election official said.
Voting, which commenced at 7 am, is underway amid tight security. It will continue until 5 pm, he said.
"A voter turnout of 12 percent was recorded by 9 am. Polling is proceeding peacefully," State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad said.
Over 43 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of over 6,000 candidates.
State Election Commissioner (SEC) Alka Tiwari exercised her franchise at ward number 40 in Ranchi.
"Polling is proceeding peacefully across the state, and reports are so far positive from all the ULBs. I would like to appeal to the voters to exercise their franchise," Tiwari told reporters.
Prasad said that elections are being held for the posts of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, and councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads, and 19 nagar panchayats.
As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are contesting for the posts of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting for the posts of ward councillors.
Prasad said that adequate security arrangements have been made at all the polling stations.
A total of 4,307 polling booths have been set up for the elections. Of these, 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive, and 2,445 as sensitive.