Delhi Elections: 67% voting till 6 p.m. in tight race between BJP, AAP

As the battle for Delhi heads for a photo finish between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharitya Janata Party (BJP) in the single-phase Assembly elections, over 67% of the nearly 1.33 crore voters exercised their franchise till 6 p.m.

The chief ministerial candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress - Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal and Ajay Maken cast their votes early on the day.

With parents, family, and people's blessings I have done my duty...now its your turn to vote for Safe+ Delhi pic.twitter.com/Z6WvNYFqCK

— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) February 7, 2015

Delhi: AAP CM candidate Arvind Kejriwal casts his vote at BK Dutt Colony. #DelhiVotes pic.twitter.com/FzMCTV7n3n

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 7, 2015

 

Congress's Ajay Maken casts his vote #DelhiVotes pic.twitter.com/Z4ZtL3Lkyl

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 7, 2015

President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi and Jagdish Mukhi are among those who cast their votes.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi assembly began at 8 a.m. amid tight security. According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, all arrangements are in place to ensure free and fair polling.

About 55,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure hassle free voting. The police will also undertake patrolling in different parts of the capital to prevent the distribution of liquor, money or any other allurements.

Meanwhile, the mud-slinging continued between the parties even on poll day as both kejriwal and Bedi alleged each other of violating the code of conduct. Arvind Kejriwal alleged in a series of tweets, "Polling slowed down in many places. Long queues. Its taking 2 hrs in some places. Voters returning...As per rules, 3 voters r allowed inside booth at a time. They r allowing only 1 voter, which has slowed down voting...Even lunch breaks being taken which is against rules. EC should immediately intervene." Ms Bedi on the other hand alleged that cash was being distributed among voters to lure them to vote for AAP. 

H S Brahma, the cheif election commissioner however said the election commission has not received any report or complaint of money being distributed. He also said there were no reports of slow voting anywhere in the capital.

Over 1.33 crore electorate will decide the fate of 673 candidates.

The polling is presently on at 12,177 polling stations. Of these, 714 have been declared as critical and 191 as highly critical. Voting will continue till 6 p.m. in the evening.