Exit polls give Delhi to AAP after record turnout

BJP says wait for the results

Elections to Delhi Assembly on Saturday saw a record 67.14 per cent turnout, with most exit polls projecting an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweep and Arvind Kejriwal’s return as chief minister.

The turnout was 1.5 per cent higher than the 65.6 per cent in the 2013 Assembly election.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi, who had an exchange of words with Kejriwal over alleged wrongdoings on polling day, refused to concede defeat.

“Wait for the poll result on February 10,” she said. The party did not agree with the exit polls, saying they did not present the correct picture of voting trends.

Kejriwal, who seemed set to deny power to the BJP,  flashed the victory sign after voting in his New Delhi seat. “We are confident of a win,” he said.

The 46-year-old had quit the chief minister’s post on February 14, 2014, after 49 days in office, forcing Saturday’s mid-term poll after a year of President’s rule.

Many exit polls have predicted a majority for the AAP, with one giving it as many as 53 seats in the 70-member House. Some polls indicated a Congress wipe-out, with the party losing even the eight seats it had won in the 2013 elections.

An AAP majority, as projected by a bulk of the exit polls, will have national implications, making Kejriwal’s outfit a sought-after ally for any non-BJP non-Congress group.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had given calls for support for the AAP in Delhi. 

A poor show by the BJP would end the illusion of the unending run of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma. It will also give ammunition to his detractors within the saffron party, besides ending the political careers of many ageing Delhi BJP leaders.

Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said: “The polling percentage was 67.14, a record in the history of Assembly elections in Delhi. We are very happy we achieved such an impressive turnout.”

He said voting was largely peaceful, barring exchange of words and alleged manhandling of rival political activists. The turnout in Saturday’s balloting was the highest in the city for all elections—parliamentary, Assembly or civic.

A total of 1.33 crore voters were eligible to cast the ballot.

The Gokalpur constituency in North-East Delhi recorded the highest turnout of 73.46 per cent; the lowest—58.47 per cent—was in Delhi Cantonment. There were sporadic complaints of malfunctioning electronic voting machines from across the city. The election office confirmed 21 such incidents. Complaints of voters’ names missing from the list were also reported.

While Kejriwal accused some parties of distributing liquor and money to voters on the poll-eve, Kiran  Bedi alleged that the AAP distributed money among voters in her Krishna Nagar constituency and also warned some not to vote.  Congress chief ministerial candidate Ajay Maken, who contested from the Sadar Bazar constituency, dismissed the unfavourable findings of exit polls, saying: “The Congress is going to do very well.” He also ruled out extending support to the AAP in case of a fractured mandate.

A sum of Rs 40 lakh in cash and over 53,000 litres of illicit liquor valued at Rs 1.26 crore have been seized by the Election Commission during the campaign, and 44 first information reports pertaining to irregularities were registered.

A total of 673 candidates, including 63 women, were in the fray, and 18,000 electronic voting machines were deployed in 12,177 polling stations. The 2013 polls resulted in a hung Assembly, with the BJP and its ally Akali Dal getting 32 seats, the AAP winning 28 seats, the Congress bagging eight and two going to others.