New Delhi:
The Delhi MCD elections took place on Sunday with polling held in 270 out of 272 seats. Polling had to be cancelled in two polling booths after the death of a candidate on both seats. The BJP, Congress and the AAP are locked in a triangular contest to control the national capital's civic bodies. Further, this election will also set the tone for upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
The State Election Commission had prepared intensively to carry out the electoral exercise which was spread over 13,000 booths spanning 272 wards.
The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was trifurcated in 2012 into North, South and East Municipal Corporations. While NDMC and SDMC have 104 wards each, EDMC has 64.
There are 1,004 candidates vying in the NDMC area, 985 in SDMC’s and 548 in EDMC’s.
The BSP and the JD(U) fielded 211 and 95 candidates while the SP had entered the fray with 28 candidates.
Over 1.3 crore people were eligible to vote in the polls and out of them, more than 1.1 lakh were first-time voters.
Out of the 13,022 polling stations, police authorities had declared 3,284 as sensitive and 1,464 as hypersensitive.
For the first time in MCD elections, None Of The Above (NOTA) option will be available.
This would be the first civic poll after the latest delimitation which had redrawn the civic wards.
As per the new delimitation exercise, based on the 2011 Census, each ward now has an average of 60,000 people with an estimated 40,000 voters.
Delhi has 70 Assembly seats and before the delimitation, every constituency had four wards, but, now it ranges from 3-7.
The counting of votes for civic body elections will take place on April 26.
Updates of the Delhi MCD election:
#8:17 PM
EVM has proved that its unhackable. I don't think there should be any question related to EVM: SK Srivastava
#8:15 PM
Around 54% voting recorded in MCD elections2017: State Election Commissioner, SK Srivastava
#6:50 PM
Even after voting ended, those who entered polling booth before 5.30 PM were allowed to vote; thus the turnout is likely to cross 54 percent - PTI
#6:00 PM
#46% voting recorded till 4 PM - PTI
#5:26 PM
38% voting recorded till 4 PM
#4:15 PM
Delhi gives slow response, 31% voting till 2 PM
#3:55 PM
Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people with voter slips not allowed to vote. What is State EC doing?: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
Live updates | #MCDelections2017 : Delhi gives slow response, 22% voting till 12 PMhttps://t.co/Bn8ez5kqCo pic.twitter.com/eUyqcTaPrP
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 23, 2017
#2:00 PM: Delhi gives slow response, 22% voting till 12 PM
#11:50 AM: Election Commission issues voting percentage till 10 AM: Total 4.26 % votes across 3 MCDs
Total voting percentage till 10 AM - 4.26
EDMC - 4.04
NDMC - 4.68
SDMc - 3.99
#MCDelections2017 : Former Delhi CM #SheilaDikshit casts vote at Nizamuddin polling boothhttps://t.co/Bn8ez5kqCo pic.twitter.com/XbM8O8wnRw
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 23, 2017
#MCDelections2017 : Former Delhi CM #SheilaDikshit casts vote at Nizamuddin polling boothhttps://t.co/Bn8ez5kqCo pic.twitter.com/XbM8O8wnRw
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 23, 2017
#10:45 AM: 1.16 per cent voting in Delhi municipal polls till 10:30 am (ANI)
#10:40 AM: If you want ruckus then vote for either BJP, AAP, if you want governance then vote for Congress: Ajay Maken, Congress
#MCDelections2017 : #BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi comes out to vote (News Nation Image)https://t.co/Bn8ez5kqCo pic.twitter.com/3tuSSUi2XH
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 23, 2017
#9:30 AM: If you want freedom from garbage and diseases: Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM after casting vote
#9:20 AM: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his family cast votes at a polling booth in Road Transport Office in Civil Lines
#8:45 AM: Arvinder Singh Lovely who recently joined BJP returns from polling booth in East Azad Nagar after EVM was not working
#8:35 AM: People know who should be in power in MCD, BJP has violated people's trust. AAP will win at least 200 seats: Satyendra Jain, AAP
#8:15 AM: We have high hopes from people of Delhi. There are doubts about EVMs, but if there is no tempering then we should get over 200 seats: Gopal Rai, Delhi Minister, AAP
Delhi Lt.Governor Anil Baijal after casting his vote in a polling station in Greater Kailash-3 #MCDelections2017 pic.twitter.com/9QyWVTmyHp
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 23, 2017
Live updates | #MCDelections2017 : Voting begins for 270 wards, polling on two seats cancelledhttps://t.co/Bn8ez5kqCo pic.twitter.com/q3fdokS2wi
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 23, 2017
#MCDelections2017 : Tight security at polling booths ahead of voting for 270 wards of Delhi's civic body; voting for two wards cancelled pic.twitter.com/W3C0WTXKj2
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 23, 2017
#7:00 AM: MCD Elections 2017: Polls at Sarai Pipal Thala ward of NDMC and Maujpur ward of EDMC cancelled
#7:00 AM: Out of the total of 272 municipal wards 270 of them will go to polls on April 23
#6:50 AM: EVMs of Chandni Chowk ward number 84 booth no 8, 9, 10 and 11 changed, not the ones shown in demo, alleges, AAP workers. Party is creating ruckus at the polling booth.
#Voting to begin at 8 AM
Read | Full coverage of MCD Elections 2017
MCD elections stats at a glance
#Wards per civic body
- MCD (total) - 272
- NDMC - 104
- SDMC - 104
- EDMC - 64
#Date of Polling: April 23
#Total Electorate: 1,32,10,206 (including 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category)
#Number of Polling Stations: 13,022
#Major Parties:
-BBJP
-AAP
-Congress
-JDU
-SP
Triangular contest between BJP, Congress and AAP
The big parties in fray - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - were engaged in a bitter war of words as they highlighted their achievements and promises, setting the tone for a keen contest.
The BJP is upbeat after its victory in the Rajouri Garden assembly bypoll, and the Congress is also happy with its increased vote share in the byelections. The AAP is a bit worried as its candidate lost the deposit in the Rajouri Garden byelections.
However, AAP leader and Delhi's deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said after the party's loss in the Rajouri Garden bypoll that the people of the area were unhappy with Jarnail Singh's decision to quit the seat and move to Punjab for assembly elections.
A win in the MCD polls is extremely crucial for the AAP to give its volunteers much-needed ammunition to keep going after the party's poor show in Punjab and Goa and the defeat in bypoll to Rajouri Garden assembly seat.
The victory in the local body polls would also boost the much-needed confidence of the party as it plans to contest the Gujarat assembly polls to be held later this year.
