In the East Delhi constituency, a close fight has emerged between Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP. On the day of polling, the Kejriwal and Modi factor, respectively, has played a significant factor in determining which way the ballot may swing. Congress faces an uphill task to regain any lost ground.
Speaking to Millennium Post, AAP candidate, Rajmohan Gandhi, said, ‘We firmly believe that AAP is going to win in east Delhi. There is a silent wave in favour of AAP in Delhi again. We had done good work during our government here in Delhi for 49 days. People want an honest and corruption-free society, which at this moment only AAP can provide.’
BJP candidate Mahesh Giri told Millennium Post that his party was going to win the East Delhi seat. ‘People want Narendra Modi as PM and they will vote for BJP and for me too’, said Giri.
However, sitting MP from east Delhi seat, Sandeep Dikshit, was confident about his victory. Speaking to Millennium Post, he said, ‘AAP has lost its charisma due to their poor performance in running the Delhi government. BJP will not be able to win elections this time too. People will vote for Congress and development.’
According to Delhi poll panel officials, East Delhi recorded 61.38% voter turnout. There are 17,33,731 voters in east Delhi. Dikshit, won the 2009 Lok Sabha election with a huge margin of 2,41,053 votes by defeating BJP candidate Chetan Chauhan, in a very one-sided contest. He polled 5,18,001 votes and the BJP candidate polled 2,76,948.
Earlier in 2013 assembly election BJP bagged a total of 3,62,013 votes whereas AAP had got 3,15,262 votes. Meanwhile a huge number of elderly and physically challenged people were seen queuing up to cast their votes in east Delhi. The official who were deployed at the polling stations, including the police personnel, were seen helping elderly voters. Relatives of old voters were allowed to drop off elderly citizens at the door of the polling booth in their vehicles and pick them up. Senior citizens were also not made to wait in long queues.