Around 40 per cent of the 16,424-strong electorate of Ranchi's ward 39 cast their votes on Tuesday to seal the fate of four aspirants vying to become the area's councillor.

Voting at the ward, comprising areas including JP Market, Sakhua Bagan, JSCA stadium, Adarsh Nagar and Tiril, was necessitated after incumbent Ratnesh Kumar Singh (35) was shot dead on November 28 last year.

Additional collector Poonam Jha, appointed returning officer, said voting was incident-free at 19 booths set up in seven buildings. "There is no report of violence," she said.

According to residents, the contest was between BJP-backed candidate Shailendra Kumar Bablu and Rajesh "Appu" Kumar, who is being supported by Jharkhand Bus Owners' Association president Krishna Mohan Singh.

The others in the fray are Anju Verma and Amit Kumar.

Sunil Pandey, who exercised his franchise at Saraswati Vidya Mandir at Dhurwa, was happy to vote. "Now, it will be okay. For last six months, there was no one to take care of our ward," he said.

Executive magistrate Shalini Vijay, who is in charge of the strongroom, said: "EVMs will be kept at Birsa Munda Football Stadium in Morabadi. Counting of votes will take place on May 29. Results will be declared the same day."

On November 28 last year, councillor Ratnesh was shot dead at his HEC residence around 8.30pm while he was parking his bike.

Known for his proactive role during Chhath and other social functions, Ratnesh was a popular resident of the area.

A native of Chhapra, Bihar, he came to Ranchi to stay with his maternal uncle after his father died when he was a child. An alumnus of Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir in Dhurwa, he got married to Priyanka Kumari in 2013.

Priyanka, now the mother of a 10-day-old son, filed nomination papers to contest the poll, but it was rejected as she was underage - 10 days short of 25 years, the minimum age to contest civic elections.