NEW DELHI : The stage is set for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, where people will vote for their political ‘leader of choice’ in seven parliamentary constituencies and send them to the lower house of Parliament.
A total of 162 candidates are in the fray, including Manoj Tiwari and Bansuri Swaraj of the BJP, Somnath Bharti and Kuldeep Kumar of the Aam Aadmi Party, and Kanhaiya Kumar and JP Agarwal of the Congress. A total of 1.52 crore voters, including 82 lakh male and 69 lakh female voters, as well as 1,228 third-gender individuals, are eligible to cast their votes at more than 13,000 polling booths in 2,627 places across the seven seats. Over 2.52 lakh first-time voters will cast their maiden votes in the city.
With 13,637 polling stations, including four auxiliary ones and 2,891 critical ones, 70 pink booths will also be set up, handled exclusively by women officials. Along with this, 70 model polling booths have been established for the voters.
From regular foot marches and night patrolling to increased border checking, the police have maintained intense and adequate security arrangements for the polling process to proceed peacefully.
A senior police officer said that approximately 13,500 home guards from the mentioned states and 4,000 home guards from Delhi will be stationed at various locations on polling day. The voting process will begin as early as 7 am, and a rush of people is expected in the early hours due to the summer season. The weather department has issued a yellow alert for polling day, with the maximum temperature expected to be around 44 degrees Celsius.
Delhi has been reeling under a severe heatwave, which may hamper the spirit of the voters to exercise their franchise. To tackle this problem, the EC has made special arrangements at the polling booths to help voters.
Key preparations include establishing shaded areas at all polling stations, fully covered waiting zones with coolers, and ensuring the availability of drinking water, toilets, ramps, and wheelchairs for the differently-abled.
The candidates of all the major parties have been rigorously campaigning for the past 83 days, seeking votes for themselves. The city witnessed a unique election campaign that ended on Thursday evening.
First, it saw the bonhomie of bitter rivals AAP and Congress aligning to contest seats under the 4:3 agreement. Secondly, AAP’s star campaigner and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, was arrested for an alleged excise scam, leading to parallel protests by AAP and BJP—the former against incarceration and the latter seeking his resignation. In Kejriwal’s absence, AAP brought his wife Sunita to the frontline. Then, in the middle of the campaign, Arvinder Singh Lovely quit as Delhi Congress president and joined the BJP. Finally,
Kejriwal received bail from the Supreme Court for campaigning, forcing the BJP to redraw its strategy.
On the security front, the Delhi Police are leaving no stone unturned to maintain law and order. The traffic police and Police Control Room (PCR) units will be actively monitoring their respective areas during the voting process. With Delhi’s voter count at 1.52 crore, the stakes are high to ensure that the electoral process is conducted without any hitches.
The deployment plan includes around 60,000 police personnel on polling day, with at least 33,000 specifically tasked with guarding 13,637 polling stations, including four auxiliary ones and 2,891 critical ones, at 2,627 locations.
Additionally, the Delhi Police have earmarked sensitive polling centres for extra surveillance. “Extra paramilitary personnel equipped with drones and CCTV cameras will be deployed in these sensitive poll centres to ensure heightened security,” an official said.