NEW DELHI: The fate of three major political players and 699 candidates is now sealed with over 60.42% (data updated at 11:30 pm) of the 1.56 crore voters of Delhi coming out to cast their votes on Wednesday for electing their representatives for the 70-member assembly in the capital.
The voter turnout this year is the lowest since 2008, when only 57.8% of the total number of electors had cast their votes. Nearly 66% of the total electorate exercised their franchise in 2013 while in the subsequent election in 2015, a record high voting of 67.5% was witnessed.
The 2020 polls, however, saw a dip of nearly five percentage points with 62.8% exercising their franchise.The turnout this time is 1.8 percentage points more than that of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – 58.6% – conducted during the peak of summer in May.
The Election Commission has, however, said the turnout figures are provisional and will be updated in the next couple of days.ECI director Anuj Chandak said in press statement that near the close of polling, officials have to prepare several statutory and non-statutory forms, seal the EVMs, give copies of VTR (voter turnout) data in Form 17C to the polling agents and then move the EVMs to the designated centres under security.
“Thereafter, updated VTR starts continuously reflecting on the VTR APP again from 7pm, as and when the data is updated by ROs (returning officers) when these polling parties return from the polling stations,” he added.
Chandak explained that at times some polling parties fail to submit their documents on poll day which may lead to further update of the turnout numbers after scrutiny of statutory papers and consideration of a repoll, if any.
The relatively poor turnout went against the general perception that the city’s aware electorate sets an example for the rest of the country. A senior Delhi election official accepted that the turnout was indeed less than expected but added that one should wait for the final turnout figures before looking for reasons. Accepting that the voter turnout was less than what they had expected, election officials said it was too early to look for reasons.
“There are several factors that determine voter turnout, and on most occasions those are political. Let’s wait for the final numbers before making a comment on it,” Singh said. It was a triangular contest with AAP, BJP and Congress running an intense campaign in the run-up to the polls.
Seeking a third consecutive term, AAP showcased the work done in health, education, water and other sectors besides providing free power and water to frugal consumers and free ride to women in public transport. It promised more welfare schemes for women, senior citizens and other sections of society.
BJP, which has been out of office for nearly 26 years, promised to continue the welfare schemes already being run in the capital and also proposed several new free initiatives for various sections of society. With its govt at the Centre, it promised better development projects with a double-engine govt.
Congress, while reminding people of the developmental work done by the Sheila Dikshit-led govt in 1998-2013 came out with a manifesto which mentioned various free schemes and plans for all sections.
Going by the interim data, Muslim-dominated Mustafabad recorded the highest turnout at 69%, which was more than what was recorded in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls when 66.8% people had cast their votes. However, the constituency recorded a turnout nearly 1.8% less than the 2020 assembly polls, which had witnessed 70.8% voting.
Seelampur recorded the second-highest turnout of 68.7%, followed by the reserved constituency of Seemapuri where 65.3% votes were cast. Mehrauli witnessed the lowest turnout of 53% followed by Model Town at 53.4%. The polling started at 7am and the first two hours witnessed a decent turnout of 8.1%. By 11am, almost 20% voting had occurred. That increased to 33.3% at 1pm and 46.5% at 3pm. As per the ECI’s voter turnout mobile app, 57.7% turnout was recorded by 5pm with one more hour to go.
While the polling booths were largely empty during the first two hours of the day when the air was nippy, officials said queues had started forming by 9am. Several polling booths, especially in the outer Delhi areas, saw queues in the evening, indicating that the final voting percentage may increase by a few more points.”Those who reached the polling stations before the official time of voting to end were given a paper slip.All such voters were allowed to vote,” said an official.
Among the prominent candidates who contested the polls were chief minister Atishi; AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal; former deputy CM Manish Sisodia; ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Imran Hussain, Mukesh Ahlawat and Raghuvinder Shokeen; BJP’s Vijender Gupta; former MPs Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Verma; former ministers Kailash Gahlot, Raaj Kumar Anand, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Rajkumar Chauhan; Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav; Sandeep Dikshit; and Haroon Yusuf.
The votes will be counted on Feb 8, and if a political party gets a clear majority, the govt will be formed by Feb 11.Election Commission officials claimed that voting remained peaceful across the city and no cases of violence were reported from anywhere.
“All 70 assembly constituencies of the National Capital Territory of Delhi went to polls today in a peaceful and festive atmosphere. Voters were delighted with the seamless polling process and facilities at the polling stations,” Chandak said.
“Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, along with election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, maintained a thorough and exhaustive oversight of the ongoing elections ahead of and during the polling day to ensure seamless, smooth and peaceful elections,” he added.
Check out the latest news about Delhi Elections 2025, including key constituencies such as Kalkaji, Karol Bagh, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi, Laxmi Nagar, Badarpur, Ghonda, Krishna Nagar, Model Town, Rithala, Trilokpuri, Najafgarh, and Matia Mahal.
