NEW DELHI: The stage is set for voting in the Bawana assembly bypoll tomorrow, with the three main contenders -- the BJP, AAP and the Congress -- hoping for a victory in the election, being seen as the barometer of their political influence.
Nearly three lakh people are eligible to cast votes at 379 polling stations set up across the constituency in northwest Delhi.
Results of the bypoll will be announced on August 28.
Though the AAP enjoys an overwhelming majority in the assembly, a victory in the bypoll would be a shot in the arm for the party after successive setbacks in the civic polls, the Rajouri Garden assembly by-election and the assembly elections in Punjab and Goa. It has fielded Ram Chander from the constituency
The BJP, which has just four members in the 70-member assembly, hopes to maintain its winning streak in the national capital where it is working hard to make a come back.
The other major contender is of the Congress, which is trying hard to open its account after being relegated to zero in the 70-member Delhi Legislative Assembly. The Congress has fielded its former three time MLA from Bawana, Surender Kumar.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues and top AAP leaders campaigned hectically in the constituency.
The BJP has fielded Ved Prakash, who won from Bawana in 2015 Assembly elections as an AAP candidate. He resigned from the MLA post and quit the AAP to join the BJP in March this year.
EVMs equipped with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) will be used in the bypoll, said a statement from the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi.
The number of male, female and third gender electors are 1,64,114; 1,30,143; and 25, respectively. The average number of voters per polling station stands at 776.
Out of 379 polling stations in the constituency, 311 have less than 1,000 registered electors, while 68 have more than 1,000 registered electors, it said.