Delhi Assembly / Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, family including 1st-time voter son cast vote

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he is hopeful that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will form the government in Delhi for the third time.

“I am hopeful that people will vote on the basis of work done in Delhi, and that AAP will form the government in Delhi for the third time,” Kejriwal said after casting his vote in Delhi Assembly elections at a polling booth in Civil Lines in north Delhi. He is contesting Assembly elections from New Delhi constituency and is pitted against BJP’s Sunil Yadav and Congress’s Romesh Sabharwal.

Kejriwal also appealed to the people of Delhi to cast their votes. “I appeal to all, specially to the women, to cast their votes today,” he said. Kejriwal was accompanied by his wife Sunita Kejriwal, mother and son.

Voting on 70 seats of Delhi began at 8 am on Saturday and will go on till 6 pm. The counting of votes will take place on February 11.

The AAP had swept the last assembly election in 2015, winning 67 of the 70 seats. The BJP had won three, and Congress drew a blank. This time too, the party is hopeful of returning to power in the national capital. They campaigned aggressively in run-up to elections, with party leaders highlighting the work done by AAP government in the last five years. For Assembly elections, the party has readied an army of nearly a lakh volunteers to ensure a high voter turnout and keep an eye on any possible malpractice in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The BJP, hoping to return to power in Delhi after more than two decades, has deployed nearly 10-15 party workers per polling booth. “This time, we have campaigned at the grassroots level,” said Shyam Jaju, Delhi BJP in-charge.

The Congress, which was in power for 15 years at a stretch in Delhi under the leadership of former chief minister late Sheila Dixit till the party lost to AAP in 2015 polls, is hoping for a revival.

After two hours of polling, a meagre 5.60 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the Delhi Assembly polls till 10 am, according to Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app.

Over 1.4 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in the Delhi Assembly election. Out of the total number of eligible voters, there are 81,05,236 male voters and 66,80,277 female voters. Besides this, there are 869 third gender voters.

AAP is contesting on all 70 seats, while the BJP has fielded its candidates on 67 seats and has left three seats for its allies -- two for JD-U and one for LJP. On the other hand, Congress is contesting on 66 seats and has given four seats to its ally RJD.