Sarath Election Result 2019 LIVE Updates | Jharkhand Assembly Elections; Constituency, Party, Candidate Name Wise Winner, Loser, Leading, Trailing

Sarath Assembly Elections 2019 | The Sarath Vidhan Sabha constituency will go to polls in the fifth and final phase of the Jharkhand Assembly election, scheduled for Friday, 20 December.

The Assembly constituency is considered a stronghold of the Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), and the upcoming election has become a prestige battle for the party after its MLA Randhir Kumar Singh defected to the BJP with five other MLAs of the party in 2014.

Representational image. PTI

This time, Randhir is in the fray as the BJP's candidate. He was appointed as the minister for agriculture, animal husbandra, fisheries, and dairy development in the Raghubar Das cabinet, after he defected to the saffron party.

Reportedly, two days before the polling, Marandi's helicopter wasn't able to land in the constituency due to technical problems. Suspecting "foul play", Marandi approached the Election Commission, The Times of India reported.

"You all know why Sarath is important. As per the standard norms, the coordinates for the helicopter are provided by the deputy commissioner's office. Mid-air, we found that the coordinates were wrong. Since we were lost, we returned to Ranchi. It was a deliberate effort to prevent me from holding a rally in Sarath," he was quoted as saying by the report.

The JVM has fielded Uday Shankar Singh against Randhir for Friday's election.

Past election results:

The 2005 election was won by Uday Shankar, who was then part of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). In 2009, the seat was won by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)'s Shasank Shekhar Bhokta.

Even though Randhir defected to the BJP after winning the 2014 election on a JVM ticket, he retained hold on the constituency as a BJP candidate in the 2015 by-election.

Here is some brief information about the constituency:

Constituency number: 14

Total electors: 2,73,989

Male: 1,43,178

Female: 1,30,804

Transgender: 7

Voter turnout in last Assembly Election: 76 percent

Polling stations: 358

With inputs from agencies