NEW DELHI, Dec 4: A poor turn-out of only about 50 per cent was recorded on Sunday in the elections to the 250-seat Municipal Corporation of Delhi with main rivals BJP and AAP claiming victory in the high-stakes contest.
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
Several people in North-East Delhi and some other areas complained that their names were missing from the voters’ lists. Anil Kumar, the Delhi Congress president, was among the people who could not vote. The BJP said it has filed a complaint with the State election commission over the missing names.
Election officials said that nearly 50% polling was reported by 5.30 pm when the voting time ended. However, the figure is likely to rise as many people who reported before 5.30 p.m. and were queued up at the polling booths were casting their votes.
The results will be announced on December 7.
The polls are crucial for the AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal as they seek expansion of the party ahead of 2024 general elections in the country. A victory in the MCD polls will not only cement AAP’s place in Delhi but will fuel its aspiration to emerge as a serious contender to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the national scene.
The ruling BJP, which has been ruling over the MCD for the last 15 years had deployed its top leaders, including national president J.P. Nadda, 19 Union ministers like Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal and chief ministers of six States in the campaign, seeking redemption through a morale-boosting victory. The party received a drubbing at the hands of AAP in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls and won just eight of the 70 seats.
(Manas Dasgupta)