Delhi votes on Saturday (February 8, 2020) to elect a new 70-member Assembly and the contest is fierce between the main rivals - Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the Congress trying to regain its foothold in the national capital which was its fiefdom for 15 years from 1998 to 2013. The Election Commission of India and Delhi Police have made all possible arrangements to ensure the smooth conduct of the election.
Security arrangements have been tightened with around 2,50,000 Delhi Police and paramilitary force personnel deployed. During the 2019 Lok Sabha election, 50,000 police personnel were deployed in the national capital, while the number has increased this time in view of the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in many parts of the capital. Delhi Police will also be monitoring 4000 sensitive polling booths through CCTV cameras.
The voting for 70 assembly seats will begin at 8 am and continue till 6 pm but those in the queue at polling booths will be allowed to exercise their franchise even after the allotted time for polling.
In the last Delhi Assembly election in 2015, AAP won 67 seats while BJP settled at 3 seats. The Congress was not able to open its account and remained at zero.
As per the Election Commission of India, the total number of electors this year is 1, 47,86,382 out of which 66,80,277 are female and 81,05,236 are male. The number of senior citizens in the voter list is numbered at 2,04,830.
Key constituencies in Delhi assembly election 2020:
New Delhi: BJP has fielded Sunil Yadav against Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi Legislative Assembly seat. While Kejriwal has a stronghold in this constituency, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that BJP is winning the New Delhi seat and the results will shock everyone.
Rohini: BJP had won 3 seats in the 2015 Legislative Assembly elections, one of which was Rohini where Vijender Gupta emerged victorious with a total of 59,867 votes defeating AAP’s CL Gupta. BJP has once again fielded Vijender Gupta from Rohini who is facing a tough fight from AAP's Rajesh Nama Bansiwala. It will be interesting to see whether BJP will continue to maintains its legacy or some other party snatches Rohini.
Patparganj: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is contesting from this seat for the third time and BJP has fielded Ravi Negi whereas Congress has placed its bet on Laxman Rawat, who was the district president of the party twice.
Harinagar: BJP has given the ticket to Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on the traditional Shiromani Akali Dal seat. AAP has given a chance to new candidate Princess Dhillon who replaced Jagdeep Singh. Being a Sikh dominated area, the BJP's is banking on Bagga to win the seat. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa along with Home Minister Amit Shah did roadshows for BJP here. There is a neck-and-neck competition between AAP and BJP. The Congress has fielded Surendra Setia as its candidate.
Tilak Nagar: In this Sikh and Punjabi-dominated area, all parties are trying to play the regional card by nominating a Sikh candidate. However, AAP leader Jarnail Singh's position looks strong but BJP's Rajib Babbar has run a well-organised campaign. Congress has given the ticket to Raminder Singh Sweeta who is a member of the Gurdwara Committee.
Najafgarh: BJP's Ajit Kharkhari is giving a tough fight to AAP candidate Kailash Gehlot from this seat. In the last assembly election, the margin of victory on this seat was quite small. With the nomination of Congress candidate Sahib Singh, the fight in this seat has become even stronger. No candidate has ever won this seat twice.
Interesting facts
In Delhi election 2020, nearly 132 voters are over 100 years old. Of these, 68 are men and 64 are women. The maximum number of voters over the age of 100 are in West Delhi which is 21, while the New Delhi district has 7 such voters.
Kalitara Mandal, a 110-year-old resident of CR Park in the Greater Kailash Assembly constituency of South Delhi, is the oldest voter in the list this year.
All of these senior citizens will exercise their franchise as 'VIP' voters.
