The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the schedule for Assembly elections in Jharkhand which will be held in five phases, beginning November 30, and the results will be announced on December 23. The other days on which voting will take place are December 7,December 12, December 16, and December 20.

The announcement was made by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora at a press briefing during which he said that the Model Code ofConduct will come into force in the state imediatetly.

The five-year term of the state Assembly will expire onJanuary 5, 2020, he said.

Arora said Income-Tax officials will be deployed in everydistrict to effectively monitor the expenditure.

During the press briefing, the CEC said that the Specialforces will be deployed to tackle left-wing extremism in Jharkhand during theassembly election.

He added that at least 19 districts in Jharkhand areaffected by Left Wing Extremists and 13 of them are extremely affected.

In the last assembly election, Raghuvar Das of the BJP wassworn in as the Chief Minister on December 28, 2014.

The BJP had won 37 seats, and its ally All JharkhandStudents Union (AJSU) could win five. JMM was the largest opposition party inthe state with 17 seats, JVM(P) won 8 and Congress managed only 6 seats. Thecombined tally of BJP-AJSU was enough for the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) to cross the majority mark of 41 in the 81-member Legislative Assembly.After the formation of the government, 6 MLAs of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrikhad joined the BJP.

Raghuvar Das has faced opposition from tribals over the LandAcquisition Bill (2017), and amendments to the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act(SPTA) and Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CTA), compelling the state government towithdraw the amendments later amid protests.

The results of the recently concluded Assembly polls in thetwo states of Maharashtra and Haryana are expected to have an impact on theelections in Jharkhand. The poll outcome of these two states would make the BJPcautious, while Opposition parties could learn lessons from their losses in Haryanaand Maharashtra.