Delhi sees 64 per cent votes cast

 With over 64 per cent turnout – 12 per cent higher than the last parliamentary polls in the capital – Delhiites flocked to polling booths to pick the seven new MPs. All the major players of Congress, the BJP and the AAP ended the day with the claim of a sweeping the polls.

The North-East Delhi constituency recorded the highest turnout of 66.6 per cent, followed by New Delhi with 65.9 per cent, North-West Delhi 65.2 per cent, Chandni Chowk 65.1 per cent, West Delhi 64.4 per cent and East Delhi 64 per cent.

The lowest turnout of 63 per cent was recorded from South Delhi parliamentary constituency till 6 pm.

The turnout of the 2009 parliamentary polls was 52 per cent, and in last year’s Assembly elections it was 66 per cent.

Polling booths at upper middle and posh localities saw less footfall but lower middle class and slum localities witnessed a huge turnout. The Delhi election office is likely to come up with the details of the polling on Friday. The highest voter turnout of 71.3 per cent in Delhi was recorded in the Lok Sabha polls held after the Emergency was lifted in 1977.

Out of total 1, 27, 06,327 registered voters in Delhi, 70,47,885 are men, 56, 57,648 are women and 839 transgenders. The number of young voters is 3.37 lakhs which is about 2.65 percent of total voters

Voting was held at 11,763 polling booths at 2,527 locations, 94 of these were identified as highly critical but no untoward incident was reported during the polls.

Candidates from all three major parties – Congress, AAP and BJP – expressed confidence for a victory after exercising their franchise.

“People who voted for Arvind Kejriwal were traditional Congress voters who will vote for us this time. We will win all seven seats. There is no Modi wave,” Maken told reporters after casting his vote at Junior Cambridge School at Rajouri Garden area.

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal flashed his inked finger while coming out of the polling booth at College of Arts at Tilak Marg and expressed confidence for his party’s victory in all of the constituencies in Delhi.

“One has already lost the election while the other is considering himself as the future prime minister. But people of the country will decide. We will win all seven seats and this fight against corruption. We are unified in this fight. This is ‘dharmayudh’ between good and evil and the truth will emerge victorious. The truth and the common man will prevail in this election,” Kejriwal told reporters.

BJP’s candidate from Chandni Chowk Harsh Vardhan said the NaMo factor will lead the BJP to a grand victory. “Every countryman sees in Narendra Modi a better future for himself. We are going to win all seven seats of Delhi,” he said.