50% vote in MCD polls, AAP, BJP trade charges

NEW DELHI: A voter turnout of around 50% was recorded in the elections to the 250 municipal wards in Delhi till 5.30pm on Sunday, the run up to which saw a fierce contest with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seeking to wrest control of the city's civic body from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled the municipal corporation for 15 years.

- Paras Singh

These were the first elections since the Union government decided to dissolve Delhi's erstwhile municipal corporations for the northern, southern and eastern parts of the Capital, and reunified them into a single Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), whittling down the number of wards from 272 to 250 in the process.

No major glitches in electronic voting machines (EVM) were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations, where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.

With these being first major elections after 2020 Delhi riots, every fourth booth was designated to be critical and heavy security was seen in parts of Northeast Delhi, Okhla-Shaheen Bagh as well as parts of Chhatarpur, which recently saw a horrific murder.

There were reports that names of voters in North-East Delhi and some other areas were missing from the voters' lists.

Election officials said that 50.47% polling was reported by 5.30pm when the voting time ended. However, the figure is likely to rise as many people who reported before 5.30pm and were queued up at the polling booths were casting their votes.

"Voting for 250 wards of MCD elections 2022 was conducted on December 4 and tentative voting percentage at 5.30pm was around 50.47%. Polling continued at some polling stations after 5.30pm where the voters had queued up inside the gates of polling premises before the scheduled time for close of polls at 5.30pm. The exact figure will be announced on Monday after reconciling reports from all sector officers," an official from the state election commission said requesting anonymity.