57.72% votes in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Around 58 per cent of the 1.05 crore strong electorate have exercised their franchise in the keenly fought Delhi Assembly elections, with the south-west district recording highest percentage of polling.
      
Out of a total of 1,05,76,910 voters, those who went to the polling booths in 69 out of the 70 constituencies to elect a new Assembly on Saturday were 61,04,467 which is 57.72 per cent.
      
Mangolpuri, where Urban Development Minister is fighting for the fourth time, has recorded the highest turnout with 64.88 per cent while Mehrauli saw the lowest turn out with 45.91 per cent.
      
Higher turnouts were witnessed in Uttam Nagar (63.96), Tri Nagar (63.69), Rithala (63.65) and Gandhi Nagar (63.43) from where Education Minister Arvinder Lovely is contesting while Okhla had 49.41 per cent voting.
      
Initial estimates on Saturday have said that over 60 per cent of voters have cast their ballots, but the final picture emerged only on Sunday as polling was extended in some areas due to malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
      
There was a jump in the polling percentage this year compared to that of 53.42 per cent in 2003 and 48.99 per cent in 1998. In 1993 when Delhi faced the first elections, the polling percentage was 61.75 per cent while the turnout in last year's MCD elections were a dismal 43.01 per cent.
      
New Delhi constituency, from where Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit is contesting, has recorded 55.93 per cent of voting, while BJP Chief Ministerial face V K Malhotra's Greater Kailash seat witnessing 54.50 per cent turnout.
 
There was an increase of 35 per cent in the total number of people who cast their vote in the last Assembly election.

District-wise statistics showed that south-west recorded the highest turnout with 60.13 per cent of the total 10.35 lakh exercising their democratic right, south Delhi district registered the lowest with 54.03 per cent of voters turning up at the polling stations.
      
North west Delhi recorded 57.77 per cent, north east Delhi (59.36), central Delhi (58.29), east Delhi (59.10), west Delhi (58.07), north Delhi (58.50) and New Delhi (57.72).
     
The figures issued by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) also showed that there was an increase of 35 per cent in the total number of electors who cast their vote in the last Assembly election.