New Delhi:
Voting for Delhi assembly elections will be held on Wednesday. During this time, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eyeing the third term, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress are expecting to emerge again in Delhi.
More than 1.56 crore voters will exercise their franchise from 7 am on Wednesday. In all 70 assembly constituencies, polling will be held at 13,766 polling stations, in which the election luck of 699 candidates will be decided. This match can give a new look to the political scenario of the national capital.
Under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, ‘AAP’ is trying to come to power for the third consecutive time on the strength of its welfare schemes. On the other hand, the BJP is trying to form a government again in the capital after more than 25 years.
- The Congress, which ruled for 15 years in Delhi till 2013, is trying to return after failing to win a single seat in the last two assembly elections.
- Voting will start at seven in the morning on Wednesday and votes will be cast till 6 pm amid tight security arrangements.
- The Election Commission has deployed 220 companies of paramilitary forces, 35,626 personnel of Delhi Police and 19,000 home guards to ensure peaceful voting.
- About three thousand polling stations have been identified as sensitive and special security arrangements have been made at some of these places including drone monitoring.
- According to Delhi Police, additional police forces will be deployed at sensitive polling stations. He informed that quick response teams (QRT) will also be deployed to maintain law and order.
Special provisions have been made for senior citizens and disabled persons and 733 polling stations are specially made keeping in mind their needs. In an attempt to streamline the process, the Election Commission has introduced a queue management system (QMS) app, so that voters will be able to get information about the congestion level. Apart from this, 6,980 voters of 7,553 eligible voters have already cast their votes under ‘home to polling’ facility.
- There was a tough competition between three main contenders in the election campaign which ended officially at six o’clock on Monday evening.
- AAP focused on his governance model and Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Atishi held rallies across the city.
- Under the leadership of veterans like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda, the BJP targeted ‘AAP’ on allegations of corruption and law and order.
- Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress also campaigned strongly and attacked both AAP and BJP on various issues.
During the election campaign, issues like “Sheesh Mahal” controversy, Yamuna’s water quality, governance, law and order, women welfare and voter list allegations were strongly raised. The issue of providing free facilities in pre -election promises also dominated.
On the other hand, the BJP has promised financial assistance of Rs 21,000 for pregnant women and subsidized LPG cylinders for Rs 500, while the Congress has committed to give a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 8,500.
It will be clear from the election results coming on February 8 whether ‘AAP’ is able to retain its government, BJP is able to break its series of defeat or Congress is able to give some shocking results.