With the beginning of 'Nautapa', a nine-day period of extreme heat from Saturday, Delhi on Saturday recorded a voter turnout of 54.27 per cent till 6 pm in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha election. The highest turnout of 58.30 per cent was recorded in the North East Delhi constituency, while the New Delhi seat had the lowest voting percentage at 51.54.
North West Delhi recorded at 54.90 per cent, West Delhi at 54.90 per cent, East Delhi at 54.37 per cent, Chandni Chowk at 53.27 per cent, South Delhi at 52.83 per cent.
According to the poll body, this is a tentative figure.
The Delhi Chief Electoral Office said there were no reports of technical snags or delays in the commencement of voting at any polling station.
The national Capital saw a BJP clean sweep in both the 2014 and 2019 elections, pushing opponents AAP and Congress to the periphery. Delhi had witnessed 60.52 per cent voting in the 2019 general election when the BJP had swept all the seats.
President Draupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, were among the early voters to cast their votes in the Capital. All contesting candidates, including Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Sahiram Pahelwan from South Delhi, Mahabal Mishra and Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi were among the early voters. This is the first Lok Sabha election in Delhi in which AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates.
Posh colonies such as Greater Kailash, Vasant Vihar, Mehendru Enclave, Civil Lines, Defence Colonies and New Friends' Colony and villages in outer Delhi areas witnessed lower turnout of voters while unauthorised colonies and minority communities dominated areas recorded higher turnout.
Many people were seen queuing up outside the more than 13,000 polling booths across the seven constituencies even before voting began at 7 am to avoid the blazing sun later in the day at the peak of summer. The temperature soared to 43.3 degrees Celsius in the afternoon which gave the feel of 52-55 degrees Celsius. Najafgarh and Mungeshpur recorded 46 degrees Celsius, highest in North India.
As per the EC's voter turnout app, the voter turnout was recorded highest at 58.42 per cent in Shakur Basti Assembly seat while lowest at 46.69 per cent in Model Town in Chandni Chowk constituency. In East Delhi, the lowest turnout was recorded at 50. 05 per cent in Laxmi Nagar while the maximum turnout stood at 57. 35 per cent in Krishna Nagar.
Similarly, the lowest turnout was recorded at 48.28 per cent in Kasturba Nagar while the maximum turnout at 56.07 per cent in Moti Nagar in New Delhi constituency. In North-East Delhi, the lowest turnout was recorded at 53.60 per cent in Burari while the maximum turnout at 62.05 per cent in Babarpur, according to the EC.
The lowest turnout was recorded at 48.37 per cent in Bawana while the maximum turnout at 62.59 per cent in Rohini. In South Delhi in North West Delhi, the lowest turnout was recorded at 48.10 per cent in Mehrauli while the maximum turnout at 57.24 per cent in Bijwasan.
In West Delhi, the lowest turnout was recorded at 50.21 per cent in Vikaspuri while the maximum turn out at 61.77 per cent in Madipur.
The key candidates include Bansuri Swaraj, who is the daughter of late Union Minister Sushma Swaraj. She is pitted against AAP's Somnath Bharti from the New Delhi seat. BJP candidate Manoj Tiwari is contesting from North East Delhi seat against Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar.
AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar is contesting against BJP's Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi. AAP's Sahi Ram Pehalwan is contesting from South Delhi against BJP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri. From West Delhi, BJP's Kamaljeet Sehrawat is contesting against AAP's Mahabal Mishra while BJP's Yogendra Chandoliya is contesting against Udit Raj of Congress while JP Agarwal is contesting from Chandni Chowk against BJP's Praveen Khandelwal.
After voting, Kejriwal said, "People are voting in large numbers against dictatorship, inflation and unemployment." The AAP also claimed that INDIA Bloc will sweep all seven seats in Delhi despite all tricks adopted by the BJP's Lieutenant Governor by misusing the police to favour the BJP on election day.
Once bitter rivals, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have joined hands in a high-pitched battle in Delhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP which has won all seven seats in Delhi in the last decade.
The BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 and the 2019 elections and is aiming for a clean sweep for the third consecutive time. The intense drama surrounding Kejriwal's imprisonment has overshadowed the 2024 election contest. Since being granted interim release to campaign for his party, Kejriwal has launched a no-holds-barred assault on the BJP.
However, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, who had gone to exercise her franchise at St Columba's School in the New Delhi constituency, alleged she had to wait for almost an hour to cast her vote as the battery of the EVM control unit at her polling booth "drained out". Karat later said she had to wait for around 50 minutes. "We came to vote, they are saying that the machine's battery is down. If the machine's battery is down early in the morning, imagine what is the condition of the Election Commission," Karat said.
Responding to Karat's allegation, the District Election Officer, New Delhi, said in a post on X that the battery of the control unit had drained out around 10 am and it was replaced within 15 minutes.
Delhi Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj also complained about irregularities.
"Worrying news coming from different parts of Delhi … In Captain Anuj Nayyar School in Janakpuri, the presiding officer tried to get the polling agents to sign the Form 17(C) in the morning itself," Atishi claimed in a post on X.
"In Govt School number 3 Kalkaji, an election officer has just come and given directions that polling agents cannot note down any data. Is the plan to manipulate voting numbers by the @ECISVEEP?," she asked. An official at the Delhi CEO's office said poll personnel have been asked to check the complaints.
Kejriwal, in a post in Hindi on X, appealed to the people to vote and urged their family members, relatives and friends to also exercise their franchise. "...Each vote cast by you in this great festival of democracy will be against the authoritarian mindset and strengthen democracy and the Constitution of India. Go to the polling stations and assert that there is democracy in India and democracy will remain in India through your votes," Kejriwal said.
INDIA Bloc partners AAP and the Congress are contesting the elections in Delhi under a four-three seat-share formula.This is the first Lok Sabha election in Delhi in which AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates.
