Delhi assemble election: 48 per cent polling till 3 pm
Amid brisk polling, an estimated 48 per cent of around 1.2 crore voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm in Delhi Assembly election, which is witnessing a tight triangular contest among ruling Congress, BJP and debutant Aam Admi Party.
“It has been a good turnout all over Delhi. We are hoping the final percentage of voting will be between 70 and 75 per cent,” Delhi’s Chief Electoral officer Vijay Dev told PTI.
Top officials in the Delhi Election Commission said that 48 per cent of the electorate had cast their votes till 3 pm.
“The polling has so far been peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incident,” they said.
Vice president Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan were among the early voters.
In 2008 assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 57.58 per cent.
The Congress is facing a stiff fight from its traditional rival BJP while Aam Admi Party’s entry into the electoral fray has made the contest an interesting one.
Facing the toughest battle of her political career, Ms. Dikshit said she has kept her “fingers crossed” on the outcome of the election.
Price rise and anti-incumbency are seen as major issues that may trouble Congress which is in power in the city for the last 15 years.
After casting her vote, Ms. Sonia Gandhi exuded confidence of her party’s fourth straight victory in polls. “We will win,” she said with a smile outside Nirman Bhavan polling booth.
There were reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVM) in some parts of the city but they were rectified, election officials said. The EVM at polling booth in Aurangazeb Lane, where Rahul cast his vote, malfunctioned when polling began.
“We replaced a total of 112 EVMs,” said an EC official.
In New Delhi, Jungpura, Badli, Krishna Nagar and Kondli constituencies, some voters complained that their names have been struck from the electoral rolls and they could not vote.
“I have a voter card. But still I could not vote as my name was not there in the electoral roll,” said a voter in New Delhi constituency.
The voting began at 8 am at 11,753 polling booths out of which 630 have been identified as critical and hyper critical.
A total of 1.19 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, out of which 66.11 lakh are men and 53.20 lakh are women. The number of first time voters is 4.05 lakh. As many as 810 candidates are in the fray in 70 assembly seats.
