NEW DELHI: Call it election fatigue or otherwise, voters in Delhi did not turn up in large numbers to cast their votes on Saturday, pushing the voting percentage down to 59.97 per cent from 67.5 per cent in 2015.
The Election Commission was still tabulating the final turnout till the time of going to the press at 9 pm but the final tally was unlikely to rise sharply.
As per the last figures, the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency saw heavy voting with the highest turnout in Gokalpur followed by Matia Mahal and Seemapuri. The seat represented by Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has a heavy population of Purvanchalis and Muslims. The lowest voter turnout was in North-West Delhi’s Bawana followed by Delhi Cantt and Mehrauli.
“Voting pattern seems to have changed thrice during the day. In the morning it was very slow, at lunch time it picked up and finally got higher. It’s likely that it was a Saturday and people came out at their own pace, which is good. Some said this would help BJP but I would say that vote is in favour of AAP because it managed to get the trust of the people by its work. It has made future promises, which would be lasting,” said Sudha Pai, Centre for Political Science.
The Muslim-dominated constituencies in Northeast and East Delhi saw a heavy turnout with long queues outside polling stations in Jaffrabad, Mustafabad, Babarpur, Seelampur and Okhla. It was the same in Matia Mahal, which had the highest turnout percentage in entire Delhi. All the parties, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, expressed their confidence, with the AAP most enthusiastic with the turnout.
“We are winning by a huge margin. Today I salute the hard work of all colleagues. Voting ended! Hearty congratulations to all the activists! They all worked from morning till late at night, and some worked for 24 hours in the last days” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. BJP national vice-president, Shyam Jaju, who is also the party in-charge of Delhi, said the fight was “neck and neck” but the BJP was expecting a majority.
“There is a neck and neck fight but the majority will be the BJPs. We are expecting over 38 seats. Earlier we said 45 plus but it is a journey of making from three to 38 seats. The people were very supportive and showered love on the party today. It was also possible because of the campaign.”
“I do not believe in the exit polls. Let the results come out, we have seen exit polls getting it wrong many times,” said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Subhash Chopra.