Delhi polls: 42.29% voter turnout recorded till 4 p.m.

New Delhi, Feb 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) An estimated 42.29 per cent of the 1.47 crore eligible voters cast their votes in the first eight hours till 4 p.m. on Saturday in the election for the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

The early hours saw low polling as very few voters chose to brave the early morning chill to cast their franchise even after the polling began at 8 a.m. amid tight security.

Polling was peaceful, with no untoward incidents reported. Polling officer, Udham Singh, posted at Babarpur Assembly constituency in east Delhi, died due to cardiac arrest.

A total of 81,05,236 male voters, 66,80,277 female voters and 869 third gender voters were eligible to cast their ballots in 13,570 polling booths across 2,689 areas.

According to the Election Commission's Voter Turnout App, the estimated turnout, area wise till 4 p.m., was Northeast Delhi (49.07 per cent), East Delhi (45.49 per cent polling), North West Delhi (43.31 per cent), West Delhi (42.20 per cent), South Delhi (43.65 per cent), Southwest (42.48 per cent) and Central Delhi (38.22 per cent).

There are 672 candidates in the fray to elect a new government.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and S. Jaishankar and controversial BJP leader Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, who cast their votes early morning along with their families.

Kejriwal, who is seeking another term from the New Delhi constituency, cast his vote along with his father, mother and wife at a polling booth in Rajpura Transport Authority in Civil Lines area.

Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former party President Rahul Gandhi turned up at the polling stations early in the day.

Sonia Gandhi, who was discharged from hospital after four days following stomach infection, arrived at a polling booth in central Delhi's Nirman Bhawan. Manmohan Singh also exercised his franchise there. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi cast his vote at the NP Senior Secondary School in Aurangzeb Lane here.

There was enthusiasm among voters of Neb Sarai, one of Asia's largest unauthorised colonies, as young voters came out in large numbers to exercise their right to choose their representative.

The polling will end at 6 p.m. and the results will be announced on February 11.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making yet another attempt to return to power, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is determined to stage a comeback after 20 years and the Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 years, is expecting a resurgence in its vote share.

In the last elections, the AAP had registered a landslide victory by winning 67 of the 70 seats. The BJP had got three seats and the Congress drew a blank.

The AAP is contesting on all the 70 seats, while the BJP has fielded its candidates on 67 seats and has left three seats for its allies - two for Janata Dal-United and one for Lok Janshakti Party. On the other hand, Congress is contesting on 66 seats and has given four seats to its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The Election Commission had identified 516 locations and 3,704 polling booths as critical, 144 polling stations as vulnerable and 102 pockets as expenditure sensitive and paramilitary forces have been deployed there.

Activities at each polling station are being monitored through webcasting.

All the five polling stations in Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA protests, have been declared "critical".

Around 40,000 security personnel, 19,000 home guards and 190 companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the polls.

Delhi had recorded a voter turnout of 67.12 per cent in the 2015 Assembly polls.

Source: IANS