Delhi assembly polls: 60% vote as top parties spar; most complaints found false

New Delhi: Delhi registered a voter turnout of 60.25% on Wednesday.

The day saw both Aam Aadmi Party and BJP indulging in intense blame game with both sides alleging voting malpractices in different constituencies as polling for 70 assembly seats in Delhi progressed.

High drama unfolded in Seelampur when a BJP leader alleged that some people wearing burqas were attempting fraudulent voting. However, police denied any fake voting in the area. In Kasturba Nagar, police sources said two men allegedly attempted to vote fraudulently. They have been apprehended and were being interrogated, they said.


Following allegations of fake voting by the BJP in Seelampur, AAP workers resorted to sloganeering. Delhi Police, however, dismissed the charges, pointing to the security deployed in the area. Additional police and paramilitary forces were also deployed, they said.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia alleged that money was being distributed from a house in Jangpura and shared a video of the purported act on X. Allegations of voter bribery in Sarai Kale Khan were promptly investigated, said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Ankit Chauhan in a post on X. The officer said that police, along with an executive magistrate and a flying squad team, thoroughly verified the complaint and no evidence was found to substantiate the charges.
AAP candidate from Greater Kailash, Saurabh Bharadwaj, claimed police had barricaded the Chirag Dilli area, preventing people from voting. He shared a video on X showing a woman sitting alone in an autorickshaw near a barricade, alleging that the obstruction was deliberately placed to prevent access to the polling station.

DCP Chauhan said only the elderly and those who could not walk were allowed to go to the polling booth in vehicles but others were stopped outside the Election Commission-mandated 200-metre radius.

The Delhi BJP, in a post on X, alleged that AAP workers torched the shanty of a party worker at Kalandar Colony in Shahdara constituency.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed that the AAP has stooped to "fake voting" as it was rattled by its "imminent defeat". He urged people to be wary of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's "manipulations".

New Delhi district election office said in a post on X that some alleged instances of relievers of polling agents not being allowed inside polling booths were reported by political parties.

"However, on-ground verification revealed that polling agents inside were unwilling to come out, which prevented relievers from being accommodated. Sector officers and presiding officers have been sensitised to ensure the smooth relieving of polling agents," it said.

BJP's New Delhi seat candidate Parvesh Verma took to X to accuse Sisodia of resorting to "hooliganism" as he shared a video purportedly showing the AAP leader angrily demanding action against BJP workers. Scared of defeat, AAP leaders are now showing "pettiness", he charged.