PM Modi Urges Delhi To Vote In Record Numbers To Celebrate Festival Of Democracy

Delhi Assembly Elections 2020: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday tweeted a special appeal for the National Capital as the voting began for the prestige battle of Delhi Assembly Elections 2020. In the single-phase polling, 1.47 crore voters decide the fate of 672 candidates. “Urging the people of Delhi, especially my young friends, to vote in record numbers,” PM Modi said on Twitter. “Today is the voting day for the Delhi Assembly Elections. I appeal all voters to participate in the festival of democracy in large numbers to set a new record,” the Prime Minister further said. BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda also appealed the Delhi voters on Twitter. “Pehle Matdaan, phir jalpaan (First vote, then eat),” Nadda said on the micro-blogging site. (DELHI POLLS LIVE UPDATES)

"Every single vote is important for the development of Delhi and the country. Your vote will ensure golden future of Delhi," Nadda said in the tweet. The polling that began at 8 am and will conclude at 6 pm, an official said. Security forces kept a tight watch across the 70 constituencies, with police and paramilitary personnel keeping an "extra vigil" in sensitive areas like Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar and Seelampuri. There are over 81 lakh male voters, 66.80 lakh female voters, and 869 third-gender voters, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh has said.

दिल्ली विधानसभा चुनाव के लिए आज मतदान का दिन है। सभी मतदाताओं से मेरी अपील है कि वे अधिक से अधिक संख्या में लोकतंत्र के इस महोत्सव में भाग लें और वोटिंग का नया रिकॉर्ड बनाएं।

Urging the people of Delhi, especially my young friends, to vote in record numbers.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 8, 2020

Electors can carry smartphones at polling stations in 11 assembly constituencies for accessing QR codes from the voters' helpline app in case they have not brought the voters' slip to the booth.   

The Aam Aadmi Party is hoping to repeat its stellar performance of the last assembly polls when it won 67 of the 70 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which bagged all the seven seats in Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, is aiming to dislodge the AAP, while the Congress is seeking to better its performance than last time when it drew a blank in the assembly polls. The AAP had got 54.3 per cent votes in the 2015 polls, while the BJP secured 32 per cent and the Congress bagged just 9.6 per cent.

On Thursday, in their final electioneering push, the three key parties made last ditch efforts to seek votes and slugged it out over issues ranging from the amended citizenship law, appeasement politics and unemployment. On the last day of the campaign, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took out three road shows at Seelampur in northeast Delhi, and Hari Nagar and Madipur in west Delhi.