Delhi witnessed a historic polling on Wednesday, as voting went past 9 pm registering a record 70 per cent turnout in the national Capital. The percentage is set to go high as several areas like Okhla, Karawal Nagar, Seemapuri, Gokalpuri and Burari saw hordes of anxious voters turning up at polling booths at the eleventh hour. High voting percentage assumes significance as these areas are largely dominated by unauthorised colonies, slums and JJ clusters.
As per EC officials Seemapuri registered the highest 72 per cent voting. Sources said the high turnout is also an indicator of people’s anger against the incumbent Government. Voting percentage in these constituencies had been lower than others in previous elections.
In 2008, the overall voting percentage in Delhi was 57.58 per cent, while it stood at 53.4 per cent in 2003. Out of the total 1.19 crore electorates in Delhi, a whopping 82 lakh voters are estimated to have cast their votes in the keenly-contested battle among the BJP, the Congress and the first-timer AAP. Though officials said the exact figures could only be confirmed by Thursday morning, they indicated that at least 12 lakh new voters participated in the polling.
The BJP’s clarion call of ‘Badlengey Dilli, Badlengey Bharat’ and anointment of Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate seemed to have charged up Delhi voters on Wednesday. The debutant Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP too acted as catalyst in bringing electorates of the Capital to polling booths in high numbers. With the entry of AAP, the people started contemplating about a third option in Delhi.
The entry of AAP has certainly given a new dimension to the Delhi’s political map. And it will be interesting to see whether the newcomer was just a “spoiler” or could win some seats as predicted by opinion polls. AAP’s efforts to impress themselves in Delhi politics was largely visible throughout the day with anti-Congress and anti-BJP electors voting for Arvind Kejriwal’s broom. AAP was expecting to garner a major chunk of anti-incumbency votes and dent the chances of BJP regaining power.
Experts say that the Delhi Assembly election has apparently turned out to be a tight triangular contest among the ruling Congress, BJP and AAP. The high turnout also indicates towards the wind of change. It may be recalled that BJP had won the 1993 Assembly polls after the city registered 61.75 per cent polling. It ceded the ground for the Congress on three consecutive Assembly elections as the polling percentage registered a decrease. So the high turnout augurs well for the BJP.
Despite the hype created by AAP, the swing is in favour of Dr Harsh Vardhan. The Sheila Dikshit Government and her MlAs are set to bite the dust as voters are upset with the spiraling price rise and corruption. The Congress is facing anti-incumbency both at the State and the Central level. The BJP, on the other hand, has run its campaign very well and in Dr Harsh Vardhan it has been able to field a credible face to take on the formidable aura of Sheila Dikshit.
There are other factors that seem to have worked in the favour of the BJP: youth, elders, women and non-traditional voters. Delhi’s Chief Electoral Office launched awareness campaign for the voters to come out and vote, and this resulted in non-traditional voters coming out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.
Political experts say that Narendra Modi factor was likely increase BJP shares of vote percentage by 5 to 10 per cent. While moderate polling was witnessed in the early hours, polling gained momentum after noon across the city. During the early hours, mostly the elderly and middle aged voters were seen queuing up outside the polling booths.