With their fates sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the candidates for 270 wards of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi are eagerly waiting for the counting of votes to begin on Wednesday. The election of two wards was postponed due to death of candidates.
The future of 2,537 candidates from 270 wards of the municipal Corporation will now be decided in the next few hours. The EVMS will be counted in 72 polling centres across the city. A total of 1,32,10,206 voters were entitled to exercise their franchise in electing councillors for 270 wards falling under the three corporations - NDMC (103), SDMC (104) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (63).
With overall counting expected to last anywhere from two-three hours, the fates of most of the candidates are expected to be declared by afternoon and with it the name of the political party that will be running the civic body of the national capital for the next five years.
The election held on Sunday registered a 54 per cent turnout while in 2012 the figure was 53.23 per cent.
Early exit polls conducted by ABP News predicted that BJP will get 218 seats out of 272 seats. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which runs the State Government in Delhi, was predicted to get 24 seats, while the Congress party was pegged to get 22 seats, said the exit poll survey. Meanwhile, the India Today-Axis poll gave the BJP a lead of between 202 and 220 seats. It said BJP would clinch between 78 to 84 seats in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, while 79-85 in the south, and 45-51 in the east. It also put AAP and Congress neck and neck for second place, with the former just about inching ahead with 23-35 seats as against 19-31 for the latter.
Bharatiya Janata Party Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari after exit poll results lauded the people of Delhi for coming out for voting in municipal polls despite the hot weather on Sunday. Tiwari exuded confidence that people of Delhi have decided to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “journey” of development.
The people have voted for the development agenda for a better Delhi and that despite the heat wave, he said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal S Bagga also claimed that an internal survey conducted by the AAP has predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win more than 200 seats out of the 272 up for grabs in the upcoming Municipal.
The AAP had expressed apprehension that the municipal poll results, slated to be declared on April 26, could be “rigged” and the ground for it was being prepared by “floating” exit polls predicting a BJP sweep.
However, the poll watchdog maintained that all the EVMs were tamper-proof and the latest variants had additional features such as ‘tamper detection’ and ‘self diagnostics’.
The VVPAT-equipped EVMs dispense a paper slip which helps a voter confirm that his vote has indeed gone to the candidate of his choice.
According to the EC, the ‘tamper detection’ feature makes an EVM inoperative the moment anyone tries to open it, while the ‘self diagnostics’ feature checks its hardware and software every time it is switched on.
While DPCC president Ajay Maken on Friday claimed that an internal survey conducted by the party has predicted 208 seats in its favour out of the 272 in the Delhi’s civic elections.
“As per an internal survey conducted with a sample size of 52,000 voters in 13,000 polling booths, the Congress will win 208 wards from a total of 272 in three municipal corporations,” Maken said.