Millions vote in Delhi civic polls amid EVM glitches, despite scorching heat

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Millions of voters in the national capital on Sunday exercised their democratic right amid EVM glitches and scorching heat to pick three new municipal bodies in an election crucial for all three main contenders -- the BJP, Congress and the AAP.

According to the State Election Commission, 54 per cent of the 1.32 crore electorate exercised their franchise till 5.30 p.m. when polling ended in 270 wards of the three municipal corporations.

Meanwhile, an exit poll showed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- that has ruled the capital's three municipal bodies for the last 10 years -- would register a landslide victory this time around too.

Voters did not show much enthusiasm till afternoon and voter turnout in the first two hours was a meagre 4.25 per cent, which slowly climbed to 11 per cent in the next few hours as the day temperature soared to 39.6 degrees Celcius.

In the afternoon, more people turned out and by 5.30 p.m. the voting percentage shot up.

Residents reported "low" voting in many areas but in many others there were long queues of both men and women.

The balloting was peaceful but both voters and political parties reported numerous cases of malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which themselves have come under a cloud.

Even as the polling was on, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said reports of EVM malfunctioning came from all over the capital. He also tweeted that many people with voter slips were not allowed to vote.

Kejriwal, who has been up against the Centre's ruling BJP and the Election Commission over the EVM tampering, has repeatedly flayed the state poll panel for using pre-2006 balloting machines in the civic polls.

By 3 p.m., the AAP "War Room" reported 250 calls from voters complaining about non-functional EVMs. The complaints came from several areas, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's constituency Patparganj.

Throughout the day, EVMs which broke down were either quickly repaired or replaced by functional ones.

The BJP used Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to reclaim the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 seats), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 seats) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 seats).

Lt Governor Anil Baijal, Kejriwal, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken and Delhi BJP leaders were among the early voters.

Asked if the election was a referendum on his government's two-year performance, Kejriwal replied: "We will see when the results come (on Wednesday)."

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit reminded voters about the developmental works done by the previous Congress governments and asserted her party was gaining ground.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi blamed the Kejriwal government for the capital's mess and said she was confident her party would again control the civic body.

The exit poll by ABP News-C Voter, conducted among 14,503 respondents in 270 wards, claimed that the BJP will get a landslide victory in all three municipal corporations with 218 of the total 270 seats for which polls were held on Sunday.

The AAP and the Congress will get 25 seats each, the exit poll said.

It said that in all three municipal corporations, the BJP got the support of around 50 per cent voters while the Congress and the AAP share was only 19.1 per cent and 18.6 per cent respectively.

Polling did not take place in two wards -- Maujpur in east Delhi and Sarai Pipal Thala in north Delhi -- where a candidate each of the Samajwadi Party died.

A total of 2,537 candidates were in the fray.

Among others who contested the election are the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal-United and Swaraj India of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan who were earlier Kejriwal's colleagues in the AAP.

The three civic bodies cover 68 of the 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi. Two other smaller civic bodies are the Delhi Cantonment Board and the New Delhi Municipal Council.