Delhi

Delhi shattered previous records as it registered 65.86 percent voting in Wednesday’s assembly elections, an Election Commission official said Thursday.

“Delhi recorded 65.86 polling percent. Voting continued till 8 p.m. Wednesday,” the official told IANS.

Officially voting ends at 5 p.m., but seeing the surging enthusiastic crowds at many polling stations, the state election commission extended the voting time.

The Matia Mahal polling station in the walled city was the last to close at 8 p.m.

Notwithstanding their physical limitations and absence of facilities, elderly and differently-abled people turned up in large numbers at the polling stations across Delhi to exercise their franchise today.

Many came to the polling booths with the aid of walking sticks and some even on wheel-chairs, with the help of their kin.

79-year-old Suk Bir Singh, who is visually impaired, had come with his six-year old grandson to cast his vote.

The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, cast his vote on Wednesday, and said the high turnout in elections is proof of India’s democratic nature.

“After every five years, we get to exercise our electoral right, and this proves that people are living in a democracy. The voter turnout percentage in other state elections shows us that India is a successful democracy,” he said after he cast his vote.

Responding to low voter turnout in past election in Delhi, he said Delhi being the National Capital, should vote in good numbers.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Aam Admi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev were among the first few to cast their votes in the Delhi Assembly election today.

Ansari reached New Delhi constituency’s polling booth no 8586 at Nirman Bhavan at around 8:10 AM in

He was among the first few citizens to vote at the booth, where other high-profile voters like Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit are to also cast their ballot.

It is not a full-fledged state and has only 70 assembly seats but polls in Delhi are keenly watched as it is the centre of the country’s political power and has, many times in the past, served as a pointer to the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP, keen to end its 15-year power drought in the national capital, threw in all its might with the party’s prime ministerial candidate and lead campaigner Narendra Modi holding five rallies in the metropolis. Party sources said that 230 public meetings were held by its leaders in the past 10 days.

Police chiefs of India and the United States will be attending a conference on December 4 and 5 here. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will inaugurate the conference, which will be attended by U.S. delegation consisting of police chiefs from major cities and their technology partners.

Delhi’s Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung has declared December 4 as a public holiday in view of the assembly polls to be held in the national capital.

In a notification, Jung said all government offices, local bodies, autonomous bodies and public sector undertakings under the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi will observe a public holiday on account of the election to the legislative assembly of Delhi. (ANI)

It was a pleasant morning in the capital Tuesday with the minimum temperature recorded at 9.2 degrees Celsius, average for this time of the year. The Met Office forecast a clear day ahead.

“The day will remain clear though the city witnessed shallow fog in the morning,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 80 percent.

The day’s maximum temperature is likely to hover around 28 degrees Celsius.