In democracy, this is best medium to express our thoughts: BJP's Meenakashi Lekhi appeals to Delhi voters to exercise franchise

BJP leader Meenakashi Lekhi cast her vote at a polling booth in South Extension II in the Delhi Assembly polls on Wednesday. She appealed to the Delhi voters to exercise their franchise.

"I hope that more and more people come and cast their vote. In a democracy, this is the best medium to express our thoughts... The transfer of power should take place peacefully. There should not be any violence," she told ANI.

The national capital recorded a slow voter turnout of 8.10 per cent as of 9 am in the single-phase Delhi assembly elections, as per the Election Commission of India.


North East district of Delhi recorded the highest turnout of 10.70 per cent among all districts of the national capital followed by South West district with 9.34 per cent. The New Delhi district recorded a sluggish turnout of 6.51 per cent.

As per the ECI, the Central district recorded a turnout of 6.67 per cent, East 8.21 per cent, North 7.12 per cent, North West 7.66 per cent, Shahdara 8.92 per cent, South 8.43 per cent, South East 8.36 per cent and West 6.76 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Milkipur assembly constituency recorded a turnout of 13.34 per cent in the bye-assembly elections. The Erode (East) constituency of Tamil Nadu witnessed a turnout of 10.95 per cent as of 9 am in the bypolls.

Polling for 70 assembly seats of Delhi and by-polls for two seats, one each of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh began on Wednesday morning. Voting commenced at 7.00 am today.

Voters cast their ballots amid tight security in all seats.

In Delhi, the prominent contested constituencies include New Delhi, Jangpura, Kalkaji, Ohkla, Mustafabad, Bijwasan, Kasturba Nagar, Greater Kailash, Patparganj, etc.

These elections are high-stakes elections for AAP, BJP and Congress, as, AAP is hoping to retain its power for the third term while the BJP is eyeing to regain power after almost 27 years.

Congress which once ruled the state for 15 years has struggled to claim even a seat in the 2015 and 2020 elections. In this election, the party is hoping for a return.

AAP, which currently holds more than 60 seats in the 70-seat assembly, seeks re-election based on its previous terms' achievements.

The New Delhi seat sees a high-profile three-way contest with former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), BJP's Parvesh Verma, and Congress's Sandeep Dikshit (son of former CM Sheila Dikshit).

Jangpura sees a contest between AAP's Manish Sisodia, Congress's Farhad Suri, and BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah. A total of 699 candidates is in the electoral fray on the 70 assembly constituency seats of the national capital.