
New Delhi: The Voter Turnout (VTR) was 60.42% as updated till 11:30 PM at the polling stations after all 70 Assembly Constituencies of the National Capital Territory of Delhi went to polls today in a peaceful atmosphere, the Election Commission of India claimed today.
The Assembly Constituencies of Erode (east) in Tamil Nadu and Milkipur Uttar Pradesh also went to polls today and witnessed voting with 64.02 % and 65.25 % provisional turnout respectively as updated till 5 PM.
Polling in Delhi started at 7 AM and continued till 6 PM. The electorates stood at over 1.56 crores with male electors making up over 83.76 lakhs, female electors over 72.36 lakhs and third gender electors over 1,200. First-time voters were seen voting at polling stations across Delhi. Young electors in the age group 18-19 numbered over 2.39 lakhs.
The term of the Assembly in Delhi is due to expire on February 23, 2025. The counting of votes will take place on February 8, 2025, and discussions have now shifted to the chances of the return of the Aam Aadmi Party for the third consecutive term.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu maintained a thorough and exhaustive oversight of the ongoing elections ahead of and during polling day to ensure seamless, smooth and peaceful elections, the ECI stated. Earlier in the day, the Commission members fulfilled their civic duty and cast their votes at their respective polling stations in New Delhi.
A total of 13,766 polling stations including 733 auxiliary polling stations were set up. All the polling stations were under live webcasting surveillance to watch the poll proceedings. 70 polling stations each were managed by women, Persons with Disability, and youth respectively to ensure a welcoming atmosphere at the polling station for these demographics.
Assured minimum facilities including ramps, sufficient lighting, wheelchairs, toilets and volunteers for elderly and PwD voters were provided at all polling stations. All necessary facilities were put in place with special consideration for both slums, JJ clusters as well as urban centres. Benches/chairs were placed at suitable intervals in queues so that people could rest while waiting their turn to vote at the Polling Stations. The home voting facility was extended as an optional measure for electors over 85 years and PwD electors with 40% benchmark disability.
In Delhi (east), for effective queue management, voters were guided by colour-coded voter slips and coloured footstrips for easy identification of their respective polling booths in the premises of a polling station location.
ECI claimed a zero-tolerance approach was adopted towards the use of money power in the elections. Enforcement agencies have made seizures worth Rs. 235.78 crores since the announcement of the Delhi elections on 07/01/25. The seizures include Rs. 46.48 crore cash, Rs. 5.39 crore worth of liquor, Rs. 88.36 crore worth of drugs, Rs. 88.56 crore worth of precious metals and freebies worth Rs. 6.98 crore from the 11 districts in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
– global bihari bureau