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67% turnout is highest ever: Yes! They care

“Around 67 per cent polling was recorded. However, we are still to get the final figure as voting continued beyond scheduled deadline of 6 pm,” Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.

The Election Commission said the elections have been largely peaceful and that there were no major glitches in the Electronic Voting Machines. In all, 44 EVMs had to be replaced. In 2013 Assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 66 which was an increase of around 9 per cent from 57.58 per cent in 2008.

Such huge turnout is commendable given the fact that from 2013 polls,13 lakh new voters have entered  the electoral rolls. In 2013, 65.5 percent polling was recorded meaning 78 lakh voters. This time around the number of voters who exercised their franchise had grown to 89 lakh.

In terms of district-wise turnout, North-East Delhi had the highest turnout at 69.87 per cent while New Delhi district had the lowest at 64.01 per cent. The scrutiny from all polling booths will happen on Sunday. The counting will take place on Tuesday from 8 am across 14 different centres in Delhi.

Voting began at 8 am on Saturday for the 70-member Assembly. Chief Election Commissioner H S Bramha said the election process remained peaceful. People in long queues were seen at various polling booths as they waited to cast their votes. Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Maneka Gandhi, Delhi L-G Najeeb Jung, Congress’ Ajay Maken and BJP’s Varun Gandhi were among the early voters.
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