New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his family on Sunday cast their vote at a polling booth in Civil Lines for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. "I appeal to people to vote in large numbers. We can see there is garbage everywhere. It's an opportunity to clean Delhi. Vote for the party which does development work and is honest. Don't vote for those who are corrupt. We've to clean Delhi in the next 5 years," Kejriwal said.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri cast his vote for the MCD. "These polls are a wake-up call for Delhi. We've to make India a developed country by 2047...Recently a report has predicted that we'll become no. 3 (economy) in the next 4-5 years. So people have to choose which brand of politics they want to follow," Puri said.
Delhi Congress Chief Claims His Name Missing From Voters' List At Polling Booth
Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary claimed that he found his name missing from the voters' list when he arrived at the polling booth to cast his vote for the MCD elections on Sunday.
"My name is neither in the voter list nor in the deleted list. My wife has voted. Officials are checking it," said the Delhi Congress president who arrived at a polling booth in Dallupura to cast his vote. The voting for 250 wards is underway and will conclude at 5:30 pm. Over 1.45 crore people are eligible to vote in civic polls in which 1,349 candidates are in the fray. Delhi witnessed high-decibel campaigning by AAP and BJP. The counting of votes will be done on December 7.
According to data shared by the State Election Commission officials, the total number of voters in Delhi is 1,45,05,358 -- 78,93,418 males, 66,10,879 females, and 1,061 transgender persons. There are 250 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Delhi State Election Commission has set up 13,638 polling stations for the elections.
The Commission said it had made elaborate arrangements for a "safe, secure and pleasant" voting experience. These measures are required to keep the electoral field free and ensure a level playing field is afforded to all political parties and candidates.
The AAP and the BJP have exuded confidence that they will emerge victorious in the polls while the Congress is trying to regain lost turf. The BJP, which has governed the civic body in Delhi since 2007, is looking to maintain its winning streak while the Aam Aadmi Party, which has a majority in the Assembly, is looking to register a victory in the first municipal election in the capital after the delimitation of wards.
This is the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise. There were 272 wards in Delhi and three corporations- NDMC, SDMC, and EDMC in Delhi from 2012-2022 that later reunified into an MCD that had formally come into existence on May 22.
(With ANI Inputs)