New Delhi, February 5: Voter turnout for the Delhi Assembly elections reached 46.55% by 3 p.m. on Wednesday, with voting across the 70 constituencies remaining mostly peaceful, according to an official report.
A brief incident of disturbance was reported at a polling booth in Seelampur, where a bogus voter was caught attempting to vote under someone else's name at Aryan Public School. Gayatri, a Booth Level Officer in Seelampur, confirmed the incident.
Anil Gaur, BJP's candidate from the Seelampur seat, accused both the Congress and AAP of attempting to bring 300-400 fake voters from neighboring Uttar Pradesh. D.C. Srivastava, Special Commissioner of Police, acknowledged receiving complaints about suspected bogus voting. "Two individuals have been detained in connection with the alleged bogus voting, and further verification is ongoing," Srivastava said.
By 3 p.m., the Mustafabad seat saw the highest turnout of 56.12%, followed by Seelampur with 54.29%. Arvind Kejriwal, AAP convenor and former Chief Minister witnessed a 44.83% voter turnout in his New Delhi constituency. Delhi Cantonment reported 45.90% turnout, while Atishi’s constituency recorded 41.17% and Manish Sisodia’s Jungpura saw a 44.07% turnout.
Additional turnout trends by 3 p.m. include: Sangam Vihar (48.95%), Badarpur (44.79%), Tughlakabad (44.20%), Okhla (42.70%), Kasturba Nagar (41%), Malviya Nagar (41.77%), Chhatarpur (50.08%), Ambedkar Nagar (45.50%), Deoli (44.98%), and Mehrauli (40.34%).
Manish Sisodia, AAP's Jangpura candidate and former deputy Delhi Chief Minister, accused rival parties of bribing voters, but the police dismissed the allegations as unsubstantiated. AAP MP Raghav Chadha claimed that polling agents and their replacements faced entry difficulties at several booths in the New Delhi constituency.
Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal and his wife opted to walk to their polling booth, forgoing their car. They escorted their parents, both in wheelchairs, to the booth at a nearby school on Ferozeshah Road.
Parvesh Verma, BJP's candidate from New Delhi, performed religious rituals by the Yamuna before casting his vote at the Nirman Bhawan booth with his wife and daughter. Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit cast his vote at Rahim Khan Road and later accompanied voters and members of the Gandhi family – Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – to their respective polling booths.
In the 2020 Delhi Assembly election, voter turnout stood at 62.82%, 4.65% lower than the 67.47% recorded in 2015. In 2013, the turnout was 66.02%, 8.42% higher than the 57.6% seen in 2008. In the 2020 elections, the AAP secured 62 out of 70 seats with 53.57% of the vote share, while the BJP won 8 seats with 38.51%, and Congress secured just 4.26%. Other parties received 3.66% of the vote share.
