Delhi verdict: Tight security ahead of counting

New Delhi, February 10

Tight security arrangements have been put in place at various centres across the national capital where counting of votes polled in the high-stakes February 8 Delhi Assembly elections will take place on Tuesday.

Exit polls have forecast a big win for the ruling AAP. But the party is wary of the “delay” in the announcement of the final voter turnout by the authorities.

The election is largely being seen as a battle between the ruling AAP and BJP. At stake is the fate of 672 candidates — 593 men and 79 women. Nearly 24 hours after the polling ended in Delhi, the Election Commission announced that the final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, 5 per cent less than in 2015, and asserted that it had followed the laid down process to compile data even as AAP questioned the “delay”.

Adequate arrangements have been made at centres spread across 21 locations in the national capital, spanning 11 districts, officials said. The counting centres are located at CWG Sports Complex in East Delhi, NSIT Dwarka in West Delhi, Meerabai Institute of Technology and GB Pant Institute of Technology in Southeast Delhi, Sir CV Raman ITI, Dheerpur, in Central Delhi and Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana in North, among other places. There will be 33 counting observers, officials said.

“There were 13,780 polling booths where every vote was accounted for by the presiding officers which is a time-consuming exercise,” Sandeep Saxena, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, said at a press conference on Sunday. Most exit polls have predicted that the Congress is unlikely to open its account in Delhi this time too.

Looking to capture power after 22 years, the BJP had mounted one of the most aggressive campaigns with Union Home Minister Amit Shah leading the saffron charge on planks of Hindutva and nationalism, and its strident opposition to Shaheen Bagh protests. The issue often dominated the political discourse with many BJP leaders targeting the AAP as well as the Congress, accusing them of “misleading people” holding anti-CAA protests. PTI