DELHI VOTES 2025: Polling peaceful, voter turnout 60%
The fate of 699 candidates in the fray for the Delhi Assembly elections was sealed on Wednesday as the polling day for the high-octane Delhi Assembly elections passed on peacefully barring a few sporadic incidents of minor arguments and scuffles.
The day was also marred by a series of allegations and counter-allegations by the political parties, majorly AAP and BJP, accusing each other of manipulation of votes by using illegal means.
The voting began as early as 7 am and gained momentum after a couple of hours. Till 11.30 pm on Wednesday, a total of 60.44 per cent voters from among the 1.56 crore electorate had exercised their franchise. In 2020, the voter turnout stood at 62.59 per cent, around 4 per cent lower than 67.47 per cent in 2015.
The highest voter turnout was recorded from Mustafabad and Seelampur constituencies located in northeast Delhi while Karol Bagh and Mehrauli were among the lowest.
Even as most of the exit polls predicted BJP’s comeback, the AAP remained highly confident of securing a “resounding victory” in the elections, saying that the pollsters had — even in the last three elections — given an advantage to the BJP but every time AAP clinched a landslide win.
Throughout the day, AAP and BJP traded barbs by accusing each other of election fraud. AAP leader and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia took to social media, sharing a video that allegedly showed BJP workers distributing cash to voters in Jangpura. “Why is the Election Commission not raiding this house?” he questioned.
At a polling booth in Seelampur, a woman named Mohini (26) from Usmanpur alleged that someone had already voted in her name. This led to heated arguments between BJP agents and voters just outside the polling booth.
Upon investigation, officials found that Munni Devi (60), a former tenant at Mohini’s address, had mistakenly cast her vote. The confusion was resolved after Munni Devi was permitted to cast a tender vote, as per election guidelines. In south Delhi’s Kasturba Nagar, two men, identified as Sumit (22) and Anuj (24), were detained for allegedly attempting to cast fake votes.
According to the police, the duo was caught outside Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Andrews Ganj with forged slips. “Both were interrogated, and further investigation is underway,” a senior officer told The Tribune.
Even AAP minister Saurabh Bhardwaj accused the Delhi Police of obstructing voters in AAP strongholds by placing barricades which were a mile away from the polling station. He could be seen, on camera, arguing with DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan who tried to explain to him the Election Commission guidelines. The DCP clarified that placing barricades was a standard protocol.
