As polling day nears in Jharkhand, all the political parties are busy finalising their candidates for the 81-seat Assembly.

BJP leader said Chief Minister Raghubar Das, state party chief Lakshman Gilua, and other leaders are in Delhi as the party’s central election committee would be meeting on November 8 where the names of the candidates will be finalised.

Sources also said that Suresh Mahato, chief of BJP ally All Jharkhand Student Union, will also be in Delhi to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement.

As the parties are finalising the lists, the aspirants have pinned their hopes and are looking forward to the new developments.

Meanwhile, Das and other BJP leaders held a meeting with the party’s in-charge for elections in the state, O P Mathur, on Thursday to deliberate on their strategy for the Assembly elections.

Das was also joined by Union minister Arjun Munda, a tribal leader from the state where Scheduled Tribes are present in large numbers, at the meeting.

In another development, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) has demanded Rs 51,000 from those seeking party tickets. The move has invited immense flak from the ruling BJP in the state.

JMM sources said that the party is raising funds for the Assembly polls. “We cannot match BJP in funding. The BJP is getting funds from big industrialists. JMM is a party of poor people,” said Vinod Pandey, a JMM leader.

Also, no nomination was filed on the very first day of the nomination process for the first phase of assembly polls on 13 seats, which will go to polls on November 30, officials said.

To contest the assembly polls, candidates have to pay a certain fee for filing nomination. The fee amount for general category candidate is Rs 10,000, while the same for ST/SC candidate is RS 5,000. The form distribution for postal voting will start from Thursday for first phase of elections, Vinay Kumar Choubey, chief electoral officer (CEO) said.