64% polling recorded against 52% in 2009 lS elections
High voter turnout of 64 per cent in Delhi this time in comparison to the last lok Sabha elections has triggered speculation of a wave of change in the national Capital. All seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi saw voters thronging polling booths in large numbers to exercise their franchise. This prompted an elated BJP to claim that it would win all seven seats in the Capital.
Along with Delhi, the neighbouring cities of Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurgaon too went to polls on Thursday. While 62.6 per cent voters exercised their franchise in Noida, the poll percentage in Ghaziabad stood at 59.8 per cent.
According to Delhi Election Commission officials, the 64 per cent polling in Delhi is the second highest turnout after the 1977 general elections. In January 1977 historic elections held after the lifting of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian Emergency, the voter turnout was 71.31 per cent. In 2009 lok Sabha polls, the overall voting percentage was 52.3 per cent. The Election Commission said polling remained peaceful across the city.
As polling in the Capital concluded at 6 pm, the fate of 150 candidates including some high profile candidates like Congress’ Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken, Sandeep Dikshit and JP Agarwal, BJP’s Dr Harsh Vardhan, Meenakshi lekhi and Bhojpuri superstar Manoj Tiwari was sealed in the EVMs. People across all age groups including first-time voters, senior citizens and the disabled made it to the polling booths since voting started at 7 am. The enthusiasm of voters could be gauged with the fact that polling continued in several parts of the Capital as people remained queued up even after the voting deadline. The urge for development drove a large number of people to polling booths in rural areas and slums where voting percentage remained on the higher side as compared to the affluent colonies.
In a setback to the AAP, the service class people and the marginalised sections of the society, which formed the support base of the newbie AAP, voted in the name of Modi. In the New Delhi Parliamentary constituency, which has nearly 17per cent Government employees, the AAP appeared to be losing out to the BJP.
The service class people in RK Puram, New Delhi and Delhi Cantt Assembly constituencies expressed their displeasure with the AAP which, they said, failed to deliver on key issues. In JJ clusters like Kathputli Colony, Pandav Nagar, Baljeet Nagar and villages like Munirka and Pillanji Gaon, a major chunk of voters distanced from the Congress thus pushing the BJP to a rather comfortable position.
With the AAP entering the parliamentary poll fray for the first time, a division of votes in minority dominated Chandni Chowk, East and North East Delhi parliamentary constituencies was another gain to the BJP. The Muslims in these segments constituted the major vote share of the Congress but the same has been significantly eaten up by the AAP. Similarly in South and North West Delhi constituencies, the division of dominant Jat and Dalit voters gave the BJP an edge over the two opponents. In South Delhi, the AAP fielded its Jat leader Devinder Sehrawat against another Jat candidate — Congress’ Ramesh Kumar.
The BJP, on the other hand, projected its Gujjar face Ramesh Bidhuri who not only cashed in on the development issues but also took advantage of the division in Jat votes. In the West Delhi, the BJP took advantage of the pitiable state of villages by projecting Pravesh Verma, the son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma who enjoyed a good command over rural voters. After his death, the rural voters had flocked to the Congress side but they appeared back into the BJP’s fold as they turned out enthusiastically to vote for their cause.
As compared to the Delhi Assembly polls, the BJP improved its performance in constituencies like New Delhi, East Delhi and Chandni Chowk. In New Delhi, the AAP had swept the poll results winning seven out of the ten assembly seats while the BJP managed to win the remaining three seats. Similarly in East Delhi and Chandni Chowk, the AAP had bagged five and four seats respectively. However, the trends that emerged in the lok Sabha polls, presented a different picture altogether. The BJP candidates in these lok Sabha segments appeared to be the first choice of the voters. In the 2013 Assembly Elections, the BJP had polled 33.98 per cent votes while the AAP and the Congress secured 29.49 per cent and 24.54 per cent votes respectively.