Voting fever was clearly visible in the South Delhi constituency on Thursday as nearly 63 per cent of the total voters in the region thronged the polling booths to get their fingers inked. The battle in the region, dominated by rural and urban villages along with unauthorised colonies, witnessed a two-cornered battle with the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party racing against each other for the top position. While the electorates were seemingly determined to overthrow the Congress rule, scores preferred to side with the BJP, which is riding high on the ‘Modi wave’. The AAP appeared to have maintained its hold in rural and unauthorised colonies of South Delhi.
Kicking-off with a slow start, the voters’ turnout stood at a mere 10 per cent at 9 am. However, as the day passed it swelled to 38 per cent by 1 pm. Polling booths were abuzz with enthusiastic voters only towards the later half of the day as the voting percentage crossed the 60 per cent mark by 6 pm.
The BJP may emerge as the frontrunner in this constituency in the lok Sabha polls. In areas like Kalkaji, Govindpuri, Tughlakabad and Chhatarpur voters expressed their desire to see BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi to win. The middle class seemed to have come out in large numbers to vote for the lotus symbol. “We would have voted for Arvind Kejriwal if he had to be the Chief Minister of Delhi. But when it comes to deciding the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi is a better choice. Kejriwal definitely is far better than any other politician, but he needs experience to run the country,” said Yogesh Saini, a resident of Kalkaji.
The constituency which is home to numerous rural and urban villages, resettlement colonies and JJ clusters witnessed AAP posing as a heavy opponent against the BJP. Assembly segments like Sangam Vihar, Deoli and Ambedkar Nagar which in the December Assembly polls went into the pocket of the AAP, this time too had voters standing by the party. “Kejriwal solved the water problem here. He somehow had always ensured to supply adequate water to us,” said Sushma Chauhan, a resident of Sangam Vihar.