Ranchi, Dec 12 (IANS): Jharkhand recorded 29.44 per cent voting till 11 a.m. in the third phase of polls on Thursday.

The highest polling has been recorded in Khijari seat at 37.65 per cent and lowest at Ranchi with 19.35 per cent. The voting commenced at 7 a.m. amid tight security arrangements.

While the polling exercise on five seats - Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Ramgarh and Barkatha will continue from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., voters in the remaining constituencies can vote till 3 p.m.

There are a total of 309 candidates including 32 females whose fate will be decided by 56,06,743 voters including 26,73,991 females and 95 third gender. These 17 seats are spread across Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Bokaro, Koderma and Saraikela. More than 35,000 security personnel have been deployed for peaceful polling.

Jharkhand Governor Draupdi Murmu caste her vote at ATI Ranchi, AJSU president Sudesh Mahto caste his vote along with his wife at Silli. Former Union minister Jayant Sinha cast his vote in Hazaribagh.

In the third phase, the key candidates include three ministers - C.P. Singh, Ramchandra Sahis and Neera Yadav, Former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and former Deputy Chief Minister and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudesh Mahto.

Of the 17 seats, BJP, JMM and Congress had won 10, three and two seats, respectively in the 2014 Assembly election.

There is a direct fight between BJP, Congress and JMM candidates on seven seats. In Silli seat the fight is between AJSU president Mahto and JMM sitting legislator Seema Devi. There is a triangular fight in six seats. In some seats the fight is four-cornered or multi-cornered.