NEW DELHI: A record 62 per cent of around 1.2 crore voters exercised their franchise on Wednesday in the Delhi assembly election, which is witnessing a tight triangular contest among ruling Congress, BJP and Aam Admi Party, TV channels reported.
Earlier in the day, Delhi's chief electoral officer Vijay Dev had said, "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,"
"The polling has so far been peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incident," Election Commission officials 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, 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, Sonia 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 8am 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.
810 candidates are in the fray in 70 assembly seats.
Elaborate security arrangements were made in the capital with deployment of 32,801 personnel of Delhi Police and 10,700 central paramilitary force personnel.
While BJP has fielded candidates in 66 constituencies Congress and AAP are contesting from all 70 seats.
BSP, which was the third largest party in last Assembly election, has fielded candidates in 69 seats. A total of 224 independents are also in the fray.
People in many polling booths in Tuglaqabad, Karol Bagh, Trilokpuri and Badarpur said they had to wait for a long time to cast their votes as electronic voting machines were not working.
Vardhan voiced confidence that BJP will return to power after a gap of 15 years in Delhi, claiming it was "far ahead" of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.
"I can tell you very categorically that we are far ahead of Congress and the new entrant in Delhi politics. I am 100 per cent confident about our victory. I think nobody can make any dent in our vote bank," he said after casting his vote in Krishna Nagar constituency.
Rejecting suggestions that a triangular electoral contest has made it tough for BJP in the national capital, he said, "If there is any contest or fight, it is between the Congress and the new entrant (for the second place)."
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