MCD Election 2017: Polling Ends, Around 54% Votes Cast

Over 1.3 crore people are eligible to vote in the polls, and of them, more than 1.1 lakh are first-time voters.

• Polling ends with about 54% turnout
• Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, other leaders cast their votes early
• Polling in Maujpur and Sarai Pipal wards were postponed
• A total of 2,315 candidates are in the fray for 272 seats
• Over 1.3 crore people are eligible to vote in the polls, including 1.1 lakh first-time voters

Polling Ends With 54 Percent Voter Turnout

The national capital recorded a turnout of around 54 percent in the municipal polls amid complaints of faulty EVMs, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal leading the charge. The polling passed off peacefully.

State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava said 18 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were replaced owing to battery or button related issues.

Only 46% Votes Cast Till 4 pm

The casting of votes in the Delhi civic polls has now ended. Only 46 percent votes were cast till 4 pm, reported PTI.

Kejriwal Rakes up EVM Issue on Polling Day

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted about reports of EVMs not working. In the past, Kejriwal has alleged EVMs have been tampered with to only register votes for BJP.

Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing?

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 23, 2017

Voters in a few municipal wards faced problems as EVMs at some polling booths did not work properly.

Former Delhi minister and BJP leader Arvind Singh Lovely also could not cast his vote early morning as there were some problems in the EVMs at the polling booth in East Azad Nagar area.

There were also complaints of faulty EVMs in North Delhi Burari area and South West Delhi's Kapashera due to which voting had to be stopped for a few minutes.

However, responding to Kejriwal, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said:

After seeing Exit Polls AAP blames EVM. Can someone pls tell Kejriwal ji that Exit Polls are not based on Electronic Voting Machines!!!

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) April 23, 2017

Voting Starts at Sluggish Pace

Voting for all the three municipal corporations started at a sluggish pace with only 1.16 percent of the total 1.33 crore voters casting their votes by 10 am across the city.

In North Delhi, 73,051 votes out of 49.55 lakh were polled with the voting percentage being 1.47. In South Delhi, out of 52,09,933, 57,330 votes were polled which was 1.1 percent of the total.

Voting was the slowest in East Delhi where out of a total of 31,60,325, only 24,759 votes were polled. The voting percentage was 0.78.