Delhi registered record polling in the Assembly elections on Saturday with a 67.08 per cent turnout, higher than the 65.63 per cent, a 20-year record, set in December 2013.
“We are happy to announce this election has been unprecedented in terms of voter turnout,” Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.
Officials said more than 89 lakh people voted, 11 lakh more than in the 2013 elections. The highest turnout of 69.96 per cent was recorded in North-East district, with the Gokalpur (SC) constituency recording 73.46 per cent.
New Delhi district recorded the lowest of 64.16 per cent, with Delhi Cantonment recording the lowest of 58.47 per cent.
It's voters’ show of strength
Voters of various age groups and strata of society queued up outside polling stations across the city to exercise their franchise. Polling was extended by an hour and a half in several booths.
The polls remained peaceful, Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.
The record polling in the Delhi Assembly elections on Saturday came after days of intense campaign mounted by political parties to win votes.
President Pranab Mukhejee visited a model polling station at the Rashtrapati Bhavan but did not vote as he is a registered voter in his home State of West Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to appeal to voters to go out and vote in large numbers. “I particularly call upon my young friends to vote in record numbers,” he tweeted.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Chief of the Army Staff Dalbir Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit were among those who voted.
The tight contest between the BJP and AAP was reflected in the allegations and counter-allegations levelled by the party leaders against each other through the day. While AAP approached the Election Commission against Ms. Bedi for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct by holding a bike rally in her constituency. She alleged in the morning that AAP workers were intimidating voters and trying to buy voters for Rs. 300 each. Both parties alleged manhandling of party workers by the opposite camp.
