Delhi registered a record 66 per cent voter turnout Wednesday and the number looked set to touch 70 per cent as thousands waited in long lines to vote in the Assembly elections past the deadline of 5 pm,forcing the Election Commission to extend polling hours. While the all-time high turnout could spell trouble for the Sheila Dikshit government,it would also send ominous signals for the UPA government. Unlike the four other states where local issues dominated the elections,the Delhiresults will be seen as a barometer of the anti-incumbency sentiment as much against Dikshit as against the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre. It could also boost the fledgling Aam Admi Party (AAP),whose aggressive and innovative campaign strategy was believed to be mainly responsible for the high turnout as it had devised its campaign around issues concerning both the state and the Central governments. The anti-corruption movement launched by Anna Hazare in Delhi,which led to the emergence of the AAP,was targeted at the UPA government before Arvind Kejriwal entered politics and diverted focus to the omissions and commissions of the Delhi government. Delhi saw large turnouts in middle-class and upper-middle-class constituencies where the policy paralysis of the UPA government has been a major cause of concern,reportedly leading to their alienation from the Congress. The provisional turnout figure of 65 per cent has been the highest for Delhi. In the first Assembly elections in Delhi,it was 61.75 per cent,which came down to 48.99 per cent in 1998 when the Congress came to power. The voting percentage went up in two subsequent Assembly elections to 53.42 per cent in 2003 and 57.61 per cent in 2008. Contrary to common perception about high voter turnout in Delhi reflecting strong anti-incumbency,the ruling Congress gave a different spin saying the increased numbers would help it. Whenever polling percentage has increased in Delhi,the Congress has won. It was 48 per cent in 1998 and the Congress won. It went up to 54 per cent in 2003 and we won and we won again in 2008 when the polling percentage was 58 per cent, AICC general secretary in charge of Delhi,Shakeel Ahmed,said. Ahmed said the increase in polling percentage was also because of the Election Commissions aggressive campaign and the perception created by the media of the election being a three-cornered contest. The number of voters have increased and so has the number of contenders. In Delhi,in the past,the fight was between two parties. This time the media created a perception that it was a multi-cornered fight. Naturally,there was more aggressive door-to-door campaigning and one-to-one canvassing. That also made a difference, he said. Given the fact that exit poll results were unanimous in giving the BJP a big lead in Delhi,Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,the Congress camp would obviously be jittery about the general elections due barely five months later. The ruling party at the Centre was hoping to wrest Chhattisgarh from the BJP and probably spring a surprise in Madhya Pradesh. It was equally sanguine about beating anti-incumbency in Rajasthan and Delhi. If results in these states on December 8 are even close to the exit poll predictions,it would be a big blow to the Congress that was hoping that the Assembly election results would puncture what it termed as media created hype around the BJPs prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Given that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had overseen the partys strategy and also extensively campaigned in these Assembly elections,a washout would put a big question mark on his ability to revive the sagging fortunes of the Congress.
