Ranchi, December 23: The counting of votes for all the 81 seats in Jharkhand began at 8 am amid tight security and is currently underway. As per initial trends, the alliance of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are set to trump the incumbent Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. The coalition has taken its lead to 42 out of the 81 seats, whereas, the BJP was ahead in 29 constituencies by the time this report was published. Catch Live Updates of Jharkhand Assembly Election Results 2019.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which was at the forefront for its statehood demand nearly two decades back, will wish to make its fifth pitch at the helm. All eyes are on the Jamshedpur East seat from where Chief Minister and BJP leader Raghubar Das is contesting against his own party rebel Saryu Rai. Trends reveal that Das leading from his constituency by 1449 votes while in Silli, AJSU chief Sudesh Mahato is leading by 4,000 votes.

The Chief Minister has been winning this seat for the last five times since 1995. He is looking for a double hat trick in the 2019 Assembly polls. Jharkhand Assembly Election Results 2019: Check Full List of Winning MLAs. 

In Jharkhand, the 2019 elections is the fourth Assembly polls to be held since it was formed in the year 2000. In the last assembly elections in Jharkhand in 2014, the BJP and AJSU alliance bagged a total of 42 seats. Sudesh Mahto, who led the AJSU in the polls, decided to contest the polls alone, without his old ally.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 23, 2019 10:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).