Among  17 Assembly constituencies where the third phase polls are taking place on Thursday, the  BJP and its ally AJSU party represented in double-digit constituencies.

In 2014, when there was 'Modi wave', BJP and AJSU had won 10 and one seats respectively whereas the Congress, JMM and CPI(ML) had won two, three and one seats respectively.

This time in 2019, the scene is markedly different. Two erstwhile allies BJP and AJSU were contesting the polls separately. Two main opposition parties  Congress and JMM were allies. More, there appears to be a strong wind blowing against the BJP led by Chief Minister Raghubar Das. 

As such, the ruling party faces a massive challenge posed by the opposition JMM, Congress, AJSU and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha in these constituencies in Jharkhand.

In all, 309 candidates were in the fray. Their fate will be decided by 56,18,267 voters. Among them,29,37,976 and 26,80,205 voters were male and female respectively. The number of third gender voters is just 86. 

The number of first-time voters was 1,44,153. In this third phase,17 Assembly constituencies were: Koderma, Barkatha, Barhi, Badkagaon, Ramgarh, Mandu, Hazaribagh, Simaria, Dhanwar, Gomia, Bermo, Ichagarh, Silli, Khijri, Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke.