Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will be held in five phases from November 30 and the counting will take place on December 23, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Friday. The term of the current Assembly ends on January 5 next year.
With the announcement of elections, Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the state. Polling will be held on November 30, December 7, December 12, December 16 and December 20.
Jharkhand is the third state to go to polls, after Maharashtra and Haryana, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government returned to power in the Centre in May.
While the ruling BJP, which is in alliance with the All Jharkhand Students' Union, hopes to retain power, the Congress and the JMM have decided to fight the elections together to unseat the saffron government.
There were speculations that the EC would announce schedule for the Delhi Assembly elections along with that of the Jharkhand.
