Over 66% cast vote in Delhi

A record 66% Delhiites voted on Wednesday in the fiercely fought assembly polls, considered the litmus test for Congress ahead of the next year’s Lok Sabha elections, as arch rival BJP and debutant Aam Aadmi Party made it a tight triangular contest.

The high-pitched battle that saw BJP aggressively campaigning to stop Congress from getting a fourth consecutive term and greenhorn AAP, trying to corner both traditional political parties on corruption issue, culminated with nearly 80 lakh out of the 1.19 crore voters deciding the fate of 810 candidates Delhi headed for a record turnout of voters in an assembly election, as people were still waiting in winding queues to cast their ballots long past the closing time of 5 pm, an Election Commission official said. With over a lakh still waiting to exercise their franchise at various centres, the turnout is expected to cross 70%, the official added.

It is for the first time Delhi has witnessed such an overwhelming response in elections to its assembly.

In the first assembly elections in 1993, Delhi witnessed a turnout of 61.75%. In 1998, Delhi recorded the lowest turnout at just over 48% voting. In the 2003 elections, over 53% voters cast their ballots, and in 2008, over 57% polling was recorded.

However, on Wednesday the party that ruled the state for the past 15 years seemed nowhere in the picture. The battle for Delhi remained a fight between the BJP and the AAP.

The New Delhi assembly seat, the constituency of chief minister Sheila Dikshit too saw a very strong anti-Congress wave. It was the AAP that stole the show. “This time we have voted for a change. The newcomers should also be given a chance,” said Vishnu, 32, a voter from the New Delhi seat.

Besides New Delhi, lack of enthusiasm amongst Congress workers was evident in other Congress- dominated constituencies including Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Burari, Matiala, Okhla. At several polling booths, the Congress workers were missing post-lunch. “There was not a single party worker on the Congress table. They seemed to have accepted their defeat,” said a AAP supporter at a polling booth at the posh Jor Bagh area in the New Delhi assembly seat.

The youth who came out to vote, wanted change. “We are not satisfied with the way Delhi has been governed in the last few years. Even though the North Campus area is relatively safe, I don’t feel safe elsewhere. We definitely need a change,” said Priyanka Malhotra, who works in a multi-national company.

Except for a few glitches, overall the elections were peaceful. As many as 32,801 personnel of Delhi Police and 10,700 Central Paramilitary Force personnel were deployed all across the capital at 11,753 polling booths to ensure peaceful and violence free elections. No major act of violence was reported. — With Agency inputs

Record poll violations too
Delhi on Wednesday recorded the highest number of violations of the model code of conduct in the history of assembly elections, the Election Commission said. The number of FIRs against political parties this time was the highest at 346. Of the total, 105 were against Aam Aadmi Party, 88 against the Congress and 86 against the BJP.