Campaigning ends, over to Delhi’s 1.52 crore voters now

For the BJP, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, and Piyush Goyal addressed voters in different parts of the city. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi apart from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant campaigned in the Capital over the past few days. The BJP’s campaign culminated with a series of social media posts on vikas (development) versus vinash (destruction), depending on whether it is voted back to power or not.

Over mid-way through its campaign, AAP got a fillip as Kejriwal was granted interim bail to campaign for 22 days. In his absence, his reticent wife Sunita had stepped out of his shadow and led the party’s campaign alongside senior leaders Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai. As soon as Kejriwal was granted bail, though, he was the face as well as the author of the party’s campaign, holding a couple of roadshows and nukkad sabhas for each of AAP’s four candidates as well as for three from the Congress. The message was clear: AAP has worked for the city and Kejriwal was “punished” for it.

Hours before the silent period was imposed Thursday — all campaigning stops almost two days before votes are cast — Congress’s Rahul Gandhi addressed two gatherings, one in Northeast Delhi’s Dilshad Garden where Kanhaiya Kumar is contesting against BJP’s Manoj Tiwari and one with a group of women voters in Northwest Delhi’s Mangolpuri, hopping on the Metro to complete the journey from one part of the city to another.

According to the office of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, there are 162 candidates in the fray from the seven Parliamentary Constituencies of New Delhi, Chandni Chowk, West Delhi, Northwest Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi and Northeast Delhi. The Northwest Delhi constituency, where BJP’s Yogendra Chandoliya goes up against Congress’s Udit Raj, has the most number of candidates.

As per the updated electoral rolls, there are 1.52 crore voters in Delhi.

The largest constituency is West Delhi with 25.87 lakh voters. BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat goes up against AAP’s Mahabal Mishra on the seat. The smallest is New Delhi constituency with 15.25 lakh voters, where BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj is facing three-time AAP MLA Somnath Bharti.

Delhi will have over 13,000 polling stations in 2,627 locations. Over one lakh polling personnel will make sure that voting will be conducted smoothly, alongside 46 companies of Central Armed Police Forces, 78,578 Delhi Police personnel, and 19,000 home guards.