Delhi to vote on Feb 5, EC will ask Union Govt to ensure no specific announcement about Capital in Budget

Since the Union Budget is expected to be presented on February 1, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the EC would communicate to the Cabinet Secretary that no Delhi-specific announcement that can disturb the level-playing field should be included in the Budget.

“For pan-India, there is no problem and that has been the practice always whenever the vote on account or Budget happens during the elections,” he said.

Apart from the Delhi Assembly elections, the EC also announced bypolls in the Milkipur Assembly constituency of Uttar Pradesh and Erode of Tamil Nadu on February 5. The CEC said the bypolls which are due in Budgam and Nagrota in Jammu and Kashmir would be held later due to the snow there.

Kumar called on people of Delhi to vote in large numbers, saying that the EC had scheduled polling on a Wednesday so that more people would be able to cast their votes.

Delhi Assembly election schedule.

The CEC reiterated the EC’s advisory to parties to refrain from making derogatory remarks about women and using children in their campaign. His comments come in the wake of remarks made by Ramesh Bidhuri, BJP candidate for Kalkaji, about Chief Minister Atishi’s father and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

“These kinds of dirty comments (against women) should not be made. We have given very strict guidelines and I am repeating now,” he said.

He said if need be, FIRs would be filed for violations of the ban on use of children in campaigning and derogatory comments about women.

A total of 13,033 polling stations will be set up at 2,697 locations, the CEC said. A total of 83.49 lakh male electors, 71.74 lakh female electors and 1,261 transgender electors are registered in Delhi.

The term of the 70-member Delhi Assembly is set to end on February 23. According to the poll schedule, the period for nomination filing will be from Friday to January 17, the date of scrutiny of nominations is January 18 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 20.

The EC’s announcement brings the Model Code of Conduct into force. The ruling AAP will be eying a hat-trick, having swept the 2015 and 2020 elections with 67 and 62 seats respectively. The BJP, which was left with single digits in the last two Assemblies, and the Congress, which was completely wiped out after ruling Delhi for 15 years, will be up against the incumbent AAP.

While the Congress and AAP contested the seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi jointly in 2024, the parties are contesting the Assembly polls separately.

Former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to face former West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh, who is the BJP’s candidate, and former Congress MP and late Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s son, Sandeep Dikshit, in the New Delhi constituency. Chief Minister Atishi will be contesting against Alka Lamba of the Congress and former South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri from Kalkaji seat.

Just over 1.55 crore electors are registered to vote in Delhi, with 2.08 lakh first-time voters aged 18-19 years, according to the electoral roll published Monday by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer.