Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with his family members after voting on Sunday morning. (Photo: Piyal Bhattacharjee)
No major problems were reported in the electronic voting machines and voting was conducted peacefully with high security observed in the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 security companies were deployed. paramilitary forces, officials said.
People wait in line to vote at a voting booth in Trilokpuri, East Delhi.
Several people in northeast Delhi and some other areas complained that their names were missing from the voters’ rolls. Anil Kumar, the president of the Delhi Congress, was among the people who were unable to vote. The BJP said it had filed a complaint with the state election commission over the missing names.
People queue to vote at a polling station in Shalimar Bagh. (Photo: Rajesh Mehta)
Election officials said nearly 50% of polls were reported by 5.30pm, when voting time ended. However, the figure is likely to rise as many people who showed up before 5.30pm and were queuing at the voting booths were casting their votes.
Long queues of voters outside a polling station in South Delhi. (Photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)
The results will be announced on 7 December.
A female voter poses after casting her vote for #MCDElections2022 at the Jahangirpuri booth in North Delhi. https://t.co/qnVGnxrHp2
— TOI Delhi (@TOIDelhi) 1670137605000
Garbage collection and landfills have emerged as a major issue in the struggle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal and the BJP, which has controlled municipal entities for 15 years.
Portakabin polling booth in South Delhi. (Photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)
The polls are crucial for the AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal as they seek expansion of the party ahead of the 2024 general election in the country.
#MCDElections | These polls are a wake up call for #Delhi. We must make India a developed country by 2047… Recent… https://t.co/wXrnuK0mg1
— TOI Delhi (@TOIDelhi) 1670131763000
A win in MCD polls it will not only consolidate AAP’s post in Delhi but fuel its aspiration to emerge as a serious contender for BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the national stage.
People standing in a long line to vote at a voting booth in Ward No. 198 East Vinod Nagar East… https://t.co/AAbO5rxi1j
— TOI Delhi (@TOIDelhi) 1670142064000
The BJP, which had fielded its top leaders including national president JP Nadda, 19 union ministers like Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal and the prime ministers of six states in the campaign, is also seeking redemption through a victory which lifts morale.
The party received a thrashing at the hands of the AAP in the 2020 Delhi assembly polls and won just eight of the 70 seats.
With a unified MCD headed by a party mayor, the BJP can continue to challenge the AAP and Kejriwal in national capital politics.
There were 1,349 candidates in the fray and over 1.45 crore of voters could exercise their right to vote.
“People should vote for the party which is honest and works. (Vote) For those who focus on cleaning up the city and not for those who keep creating obstacles,” Kejriwal told reporters after casting his vote along with the his parents, wife and children at a voting booth in Civil Lines here.
Delhi BJP President Adesh Gupta said the BJP was returning to power with a clear majority in the MCD for the fourth consecutive time.
“People voted against the Kejriwal government’s scams and false advertising,” Gupta said.
Congress, which has suffered consecutive losses to the national capital since 2015 in parliamentary, assembly and municipal polls, is hoping to return from the wilderness.
Meanwhile, several voters were left disappointed after their names disappeared from the voter roll.
“I came here to cast my vote for the first time. I found out that my name is not mentioned in the list. The officials have no idea. I have been standing for the past few hours but no one is helping me”, 19- said year-old Puneet Kumar.
Anil Kumar, the Delhi Congress President, also did not find his name in the list.
“My name is neither on the voter list nor on the canceled list. My wife cast her vote,” Kumar said at a voting booth in Dallupura in east Delhi.
Polling stations in Katewara village of Bawana were all empty as residents of the area boycotted the elections on the grounds of negligence on the part of the civic body.
One of the residents of Katewara village, Krishna Vats, said that the residents had unanimously decided to boycott the elections at polling stations in Nangal Thakran neighborhood.
“The civic body as well as the Government of Delhi have always neglected the people here, so why should we cast our vote? The main roads are broken, the drains are clogged and the MCD schools are in a pathetic condition here,” he said Vats to PTI.
Sanitation, park maintenance and lack of parking were the issues of concern for women who went to vote.
Dr Rehana Parveen, a general practitioner who came to a pink booth on DDU Marg here to cast her vote, signaled the issue of waste collection from settlements.
Among the early voters was Shanti Bala Vaidya, 106, at Deputy Ganj polling station in Bara Hindu Rao area.
“He hasn’t lost an election since he started voting,” his daughter Kamla said. Vaidya (106) only understands Bengali but she cannot speak.
Sixty drones were mainly used to maintain law and order in critical or sensitive cabins in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party accused each other of violating the model code of conduct during the vote.
Delhi BJP spokesman Praveen Shankar Kapoor said recorded messages from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urging people to vote for the AAP were received by thousands on polling day. No immediate reaction was forthcoming from the Aam Aadmi party.
AAP MLA Dilip Pandey told reporters that people will punish the BJP for its 15 years of misrule of civic bodies. and Tiwari should “stop crying foul”.
Pushp Vihar’s AAP candidate in South Delhi, Arun Nawariya, said BJP workers handed out money to sway voters.
The former MCD, established in 1958, was trifurcated in 2012 during Sheila Dikshit’s tenure as prime minister.
Between 2012 and 2022, Delhi had 272 wards and three corporations: North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. These three civic bodies were merged into the Municipal Corporation of Delhi which came into being on 22 May.
In the 2017 civic elections, the BJP won 181 out of 270 constituencies. Voting on two seats could not be held due to the death of candidates. The AAP had won 48 wards and Congress 27. The vote percentage that year was about 53%.
(With inputs from PTI)
