Delhi Assembly polls: Turnout dips in key seats, New Delhi & Delhi Cantt among 6 that buck the trend

There were only six constituencies that bucked the trend. Delhi Cantonment, the smallest constituency, with just 78,893 voters, saw a massive increase in turnout, going from 45.43% in 2020 to 59.36% this time — a difference of nearly 14 percentage points.

New Delhi constituency, where former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is going up against BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh and Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit — sons of two former chief ministers — saw an increase of over 4 percentage points.

Security personnel guard a counting station at Gole Market ahead of counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly polls, Thursday. (Tashi Tobgyal)

According to sources in the AAP, reports from the ground have indicated that in some areas, voters from jhuggi-jhopri (JJ) clusters were discouraged from voting.

“There are some constituencies where the party had been campaigning for months in JJ clusters and had been getting a good response. But on the day of voting, several intimidation tactics by the Opposition meant that the turnout from these areas was lower than expected. One example of this is the Jangpura constituency,” a senior AAP leader said.

Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is the AAP candidate from the constituency. He is going up against BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah and Congress’s Farhad Suri. Sisodia contested the 2013, 2015 and 2020 elections from Patparganj but changed his seat this time around.

The dip in Karol Bagh, a reserved constituency where AAP’s Vishesh Ravi has won since 2013, also has the party worried. “In the past, a high voter turnout has brought good news for us and the dip this time is significant. We are worried that our core voter was complacent this time,” the leader said.

Outside polling booth in CR Park. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)

Another AAP leader said that voting in areas that have a significant middle-class population, which the BJP specifically targeted by publicising the tax exemption for those who earn up to Rs 12 lakh per year, and the implementation of the 8th Pay Commission, has been higher than usual in most pockets.

Sources in the BJP, meanwhile, said the final voter turnout figures on significant seats such as New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment, for instance, underlined the three-cornered nature of the Capital’s political battle this time around, which was likely to veer in its favour.

“The overall turnout may have reduced, but its increase in seats such as New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment will most likely divide the AAP-Congress vote,” a senior BJP leader said.

“The BJP’s vote share is more than likely to remain intact and translate into seats, unlike for the AAP and Congress. The increase in turnout on these seats also indicates that the average government employee — who seemed to have somewhat slipped out of the BJP’s favour over the last few years when it came to the Assembly level — is now back to supporting us due to trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies at the Centre,” the leader added.