Ranchi, Nov 25 : Polling for the first phase of the five-phased Jharkhand assembly elections began amidst tight security on Wednesday morning.

A total of 470 candidates, including 34 women, are in the fray with 6,532,234 voters to cast votes between 7 am to 3 pm.

The opening and closing time for the polling has been advanced in view of the Naxal threats.

Former legislators Hemlal Murmu, Suraj Mandal (JMM), Furkan Ansari (Congress), ex-Speaker Alamgir Alam (Congress), ex-minister Raghuvar Das (BJP), Saryu Roy (BJP) and ex-minister Pradeep Yadav (JVM-P) are among the prominent candidates whose electoral fate would be decided today.

During the first phase, 30 constituencies will vote, in the second phase 15 constituencies will go to poll, in third phase seven seats will vote, and 14 and 15 constituencies will vote in the fourth and the fifth phase.

Counting will be held on December 23.

As Jharkhand is one of the Naxal affected states, the Election Commission has decided to deploy Central Police Forces (CPF) and the State Armed Police (SAP) drawn from other states. (ANI)