5 phase Jharkhand election from Nov 27

Assembly elections in Jharkhand will be held in November-December, the Election Commission announced on Friday.

Addressing media persons, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla said that polling would be held in five phases.

The first phase of election will be held on November 27 while the final phase will be held on December 18.

The counting of votes will be taken up on December 23.

Decks were cleared on Thursday for holding of assembly elections in the state, which has been under President's Rule for the last nine months, with the Union Cabinet approving dissolution of the 81-member House.

The decision to approve dissolution of the assembly was communicated to President Pratibha Patil for issuance of notification. The Union Cabinet acted on a recommendation for dissolution of the assembly sent by state Governor K Sankaranarayanan to the Home Ministry recently.

In his recommendation, the Governor had said that he felt the state was ready for elections.

Central rule was imposed in the state on January 19 after the then Chief Minister Shibhu Soren lost a by-election and had to resign. Since then, the assembly had been put under suspended animation.