MODERATE to brisk voting was witnessed in Delhi on Wednesday (December 4) as 34 per cent of the nearly 1.2 crore electorate exercised their franchise during the first five hours in the assembly polls where Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party are locked in a spirited fight.
“Thirty-four per cent of the electorate have cast their votes till 1 p.m. The polling has so far been peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incident,” top officials in the Delhi Election Commission 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.
The Congress is facing a stiff fight from its traditional rival BJP while debutant 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 national capital 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.
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.
Election Commission officials said around 38 per cent women voters and 32 per cent men have cast their ballot till 1 p.m.
The voting began at 8 a.m. at 11,753 polling booths out of which 630 have been identified as critical and hyper critical.
