Delhi records around 54% turnout in civic polls

The high-stakes Delhi municipal polls on Sunday saw a turnout of around 53 per cent, with a sluggish start and a brisk end, even as rancour over “faulty electronic voting machines (EVMs)” coloured the entire exercise with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal railing at the state election body.

As the dust settled, the BJP, which based its campaign largely on the image and popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appeared confident of pulling off a victory, two years after the assembly poll debacle.

The figures shared by State Election Commissioner (SEC) S K Srivastava suggested that the polling percentage could inch past the 2012mark of 53.23 per cent, which was the highest in 15 years.

The BJP and the Congress had then bagged 138 and 54 seats, respectively. This time, the counting will be held on April 26.

North Corporation’s Bakhtawarpur ward recorded highest turnout at a little over 68 per cent, while south Delhi’s Lado Sarai registered the least turnout at 39 per cent.

However, Kejriwal alleged in a tweet, “Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing? (sic).”

Srivastava said EVMs at 18 of 13,000 polling stations were replaced owing to battery or button issues.

Polling was held in 270 of 272 wards of the three municipal bodies — North Delhi Municipal Corporation (103), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (63). The election to two wards has been postponed due to the death of candidates.