65 per cent turnout in Delhi, thousands still in queue

NEW DELHI: Around 65 per cent polling was recorded in the Delhi Assembly election today even as long queues of people were seen at the booths past the voting deadline of 5 PM.

"Around 65 per cent polling has been recorded. But the figure may change as we are compiling all the data. Around 70,000 people are still standing in queue," a senior official of Delhi Election Commission said.

He said people who queued before 5 PM are being allowed to vote. Polling has also been extended in booths where voting started late due to snag in electornic voting machies.

In 2008 assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 57.58 per cent.

Earlier, Delhi's Chief Electoral officer Vijay Dev said he expected the final percentage of voting to be between 70 and 75 per cent.

There were reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines ( EVM) in some parts of the city but they were rectified, election officials said.

Time of polling has been extended by an hour in all the booths where voting started late due to snag in EVMs.