Campaigning ends for Delhi elections

673 candidates vie for 70 Assembly seats

The high-voltage campaign for the February 7 Delhi Assembly elections ended on Thursday evening as loudspeakers fell silent and candidates went into a huddle to prepare for polling day.

Electioneering peaked on the last day of the campaign with heavyweights from all parties jumping into the last leg of canvassing in open air mini-vans and SUVs with party flags, drumbeaters and blaring loudspeakers dishing out patriotic and poll songs. In all, 21,702 authorised political rallies were held during the campaign.

Verbal attacks among rivals got shriller with the BJP accusing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates of distributing liquor and money. The AAP, too, claimed to be in possession of video clippings of BJP nominees luring voters with money. 

The BJP and AAP cadres virtually came to blows in Sangam Vihar, while tension gripped Uttam Nagar as word spread that AAP candidate Naresh Balyan was found guilty of attempting to distribute liquor.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal spent the last hours of the campaign in his New Delhi constituency. Kejriwal’s rival from the BJP, Nupur Sharma, challenged him for a debate, while Congress candidate Kiran Walia relied on padayatras to round off her campaign.

The BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi concluded the day meeting voters in her Krishna Nagar seat. 

The Congress’s chief ministerial nominee Ajay Maken campaigned with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter and party nominee from Greater Kailash, Sharmishta, before ending a hectic day in his Sadar Bazar constituency.  

The Congress, written off by surveys, said the tremendous response to Rahul’s roadshow in Sultanpur Majra showed that things were better when compared with the 2013 debacle. The Congress’s strength fell from 43 to eight in the 2013 Assembly poll.

This year’s campaign was marked by restricted and sometimes surrogate electioneering in Metro trains and stations, apart from the use of social media, SMSes and cut-outs. 

For the first time, thicker indelible ink will be applied with a special brush on a voter’s index finger.  

A total of 1.33 crore voters will choose 70 members from among 673 candidates to represent them in the Assembly. Results will be declared on February 10.