BJP leader Raghubar Das, flanked by his wife Rukmini Devi and son Lalit Kumar, outside a polling booth in Sitaramdera, Jamshedpur, on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

For Raghubar Das, the four-time MLA from the prestigious Jamshedpur East Assembly seat, life was as usual on D-Day.

Clad in an orange-white pyjama-kurta and maroon bundi, the 56-year-old senior BJP leader began his day around 8am by visiting a nearby temple, where he offered prayers and sought the blessings of the Almighty.

A confident Das, who seeks to continue his winning streak, returned to his Agrico home and without wasting much time, drove on his SUV to Sitaramdera-based Harijan High School, along with wife Rukmini and son Lalit Kumar, to cast his vote.

Coming out of the polling booth, the BJP national vice-president and a former deputy chief minister looked relaxed. “Yeh Loktantra ka mahaparv hai. Hamein chouda saal ke vanvas khatam kar khushali lana hai (This is the biggest festival of democracy. We want to bring joy by putting an end to 14 years’ of exile),” he commented.

After dropping his son and better half at home, the BJP leader left for Sakchi to boost the morale of party workers deployed at various booths.

“Vote for a stable and majority government, which can take Jharkhand to the path of development,” Das told a voter near SSG English School in Kashidih, one of the polling stations in Sakchi.

Later, Das went to Mohammedan Line in Sakchi, Baridih, Sidhgora and other places of his constituency, meeting party workers and asking them to ensure free and fair polling.

Das is pitted against JVM hopeful Abhay Singh and Congress nominee Anand Bihari Dubey, who were also roaming around the constituency during the day.

“You gave 20 years to BJP’s Das, give us five years,” said Singh, who promised an infrastructure turnaround in the city with flyovers and roads if elected this time.

Sitting MLA Das had secured around 56,000 votes in the last elections, defeating Singh by around 23,000 votes.

Dubey, who had contested as an Independent last time and came third, claimed to have the support of the voters.

The seat, with around 2.76 lakh voters, recorded 58 per cent polling till 5pm.

Long queues were witnessed at several polling stations of Jamshedpur East seat since early morning today.

“Matdaan aur jalpan sath sath (Vote and breakfast together),” said R.K. Singh, an elderly voter who was seen eating bread and banana while standing in a queue at Vidya Jyoti School in Sidhgora this morning.