New Delhi: Campaigning for Delhi Assembly polls came to a close on Thursday putting an end to rallies and roadshows by leaders as Delhiites prepare to vote on February 8.
The campaign, which was marked by aggressive rallies and roadshows of parties including the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress ended at 6 pm today.
A total of 668 candidates are in the poll fray while the onus for electing the next government will be on around 1.47 crore voters.
On the final day of campaigning, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held three roadshows in Seemapuri, Hari Nagar and Madipur assembly constituencies respectively, while BJP president JP Nadda participated in roadshows for party candidates in Mundka and Sultanpur Majra.
Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia carried out a ‘padyatra’ in his constituency Patparganj.
While campaigning was headed by none other than Amit Shah for the BJP, the AAP, on the other hand, remained mostly dependent on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Congress, which didn’t win even a single seat in the last Assembly polls, pinned hopes on Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two rallies saw the campaign ascending to its zenith, what added vigour to the BJP’s poll efforts were the roadshows and door-to-door campaigning of Shah.
The BJP, which could only manage three seats in the last Assembly election, remained aggressive throughout the campaigning, which witnessed rallies by party bigwigs like Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Manohar Lal Khattar, Vijay Rupani, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Anurag Thakur among others.
For AAP, which marked a historic win in 2015 polls by winning 67 out of 70 seats, Kejriwal remained at the forefront along with other party leaders like Sisodia.
Among the most prominent issues, which remained in highlight during the campaigning process, was Shaheen Bagh, where people have been protesting for more than a month over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, among others.
The heated poll campaign in Delhi witnessed AAP outlining the work done, primarily in the field of health and education. BJP focused on the central government’s achievements and projected the Prime Minister’s image to seek votes.
Congress, on the other hand, attempted to remind the citizens of Delhi about the welfare and development work done by former chief minister Sheila Dikshit under her 15 years of rule and revolved their campaign around ‘Congress waali Dilli’.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also did a rally in Rajouri Garden.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of Assembly polls with the deployment of 190 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
Also, 19,000 Home Guards and 42,000 Delhi Police personnel will be deployed at polling booths.
“We have put 190 companies of CAPF who are regularly patrolling to ensure peace and tranquility,” Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner (Intelligence), Delhi Police told ANI.
All five polling stations in Shaheen Bagh, where anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest is going on since December last year have been declared “critical” by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer.
The counting of votes will take place on February 11.