Ranchi, Nov 20 (Reporter) Around 68 percent of the total 1.23 crore electors exercised their franchise peacefully amid heavy security deployment for 38 seats in the second and final phase of the Jharkhand Assembly election on Wednesday. According to the Election Commission data at 10 p.m,, the average polling figure was approximately 68 percent. Earlier, Chief Electoral Officer K Ravikumar told mediapersons that the final voter turnout report is expected by 11 pm, while the comprehensive End of Poll report will be available by Thursday noon, He thanked all stakeholders including the common people of the state for the peaceful polling.. The voting for 38 of the state's total 81 constituencies, which began at 7 a.m., officially drew to a close at 5 p.m. However In 31 of the total 14,218 booths that saw poling during the day, voting officially concluded an hour earlier at 4 p.m. Forty three constituencies had gone to the hustings in the first phase on November 13. Officials said the final polling figure could go up as many people were in the queue when polling officially ended, and were allowed to vote well past the deadline. According to the EC, the polling figure was the highest at 77.29 percent in Jamtara district, followed by Pakur at 76.60 percent. Bokaro district saw the lowest polling of 62.01 per cent. Among the Assembly constituencies, Nala. from where Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM) is seeking re-election, recorded the highest turnout of 80.30 percent. The polling was lowest in the Bokaro constituency at 50.52 percent. Prominent people who pressed the EVM button included state BJP president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, All Jharkhand Students Union chief and former state Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto, state Leader of the Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. Meanwhile, Union Minister and Kodarma MP Annapurna Devi has posted a video on her x account alleging that in a booth under Gandey constituency women from a minority community are voting in groups with the "connivance of the administration". She claimed that such voting was violative of the rules of secret voting. It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Hemanth Soren's wife Kalpana Soren is the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate from Gandey. Annapurna Devi also alleged that such irregularities were noticed in many places and demanded the intervention of the Election Commission. Altogether 528 candidates including 472 men, 55 women, and one from the third gender have thrown their hats into the ring for this round of elections, The heavyweight candidates in this phase included Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Berhait, Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar, Sudesh Mahto from Silli and Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM) from Nala. Besides, there were other star contestants like Kalpana Soren (JMM) from Gandey, JMM chief Shibu Soren's daughter-in-law Sita Soren (BJP) from Jamtara, Louis Marandi (JMM) from Jama and Lobin Hembram (BJP) from Borrio. To ensure trouble-free polling, the Election Commission requisitioned 585 companies of central forces and 60 companies of Jharkhand Armed Police, besides 30,000 district police personnel and homeguards. The police also seized 115 illegal firearms, 1,800 cartridges, and took action against 34,000 individuals ¹. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), helmed by the Bharatiya Janata Party is locked in an intense fight with the incumbent Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-headed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) for forming the next government in the tribal-dominated state. The votes will be counted alongside those of the Maharashtra Assembly polls on November 23...////...