Polling begins for all 7 Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi
People were seen queuing outside polling stations even before the commencement of voting at 7 am.
Representative Image (IANS)
NEW DELHI: Polling for the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi began on Saturday morning in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election amid tight security arrangements, an official said here.
The weather department has issued a ''yellow alert'' for the day and predicted that the mercury is likely to reach a maximum of 44 degrees Celsius. The Delhi election department is making adequate preparations for voters because of the heat.
People were seen queuing outside polling stations even before the commencement of voting at 7 am.
A total of 1.52 crore voters -- 82 lakh males, 69 lakh females and 1,228 of the third gender category -- are eligible to cast their votes at more than 13,000 polling booths across the seven constituencies, according to the official.
There are more than 2.52 lakh first-time voters in the city this time.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Kuldeep Kumar from the East Delhi seat, Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi, Somnath Bharti from New Delhi and Sahi Ram Pahalwan from South Delhi.
The Congress has nominated J P Agarwal from the Chandni Chowk seat, Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi and Udit Raj from the North West Delhi constituency.
The BJP candidates are Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi, the only sitting MP from Delhi fielded by the party again; Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi, Harsh Deep Malhotra from East Delhi, Yogendra Chandolia from North West Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk and Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi.
The BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 and the 2019 general elections with huge margins and is aiming for a clean sweep for the third time in a row.
The opposition INDIA bloc partners AAP and Congress are contesting the elections in Delhi under a four-three seat-sharing formula.
This is the first Lok Sabha election in Delhi in which AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates against the BJP, posing a stiff challenge to the ruling party at the Centre.