Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra campaigned for AAP candidate Vishesh Ravi from the Karol Bagh Assembly constituency and expressed confidence in AAP’s victory in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
Speaking to ANI, Mahua Moitra said, “I am campaigning in favour of the AAP candidate Vishesh Ravi from the Karol Bagh Assembly constituency. The crowd is amazing, AAP is definitely forming the government here.”
The TMC leader also spoke about the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. Taking a dig at the central party, she said, “The people of Delhi give Rs 1.75 lakh crore to the Central government but in the budget, they have only given Rs 325 crore for New Delhi. BJP has not done anything in the past 10 years, they have only built 5,000 homes in Delhi.”
“The AAP government is working in the best interest of the common man. If the BJP is saying they will form the government, then it is because they themselves beat this ‘dhol’ around, AAP will form the government in Delhi,” said Moitra.
Days ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi, eight sitting MLAs, who resigned from the AAP, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.
The MLAs Vandana Gaur from Palam, Rohit Mehraulia from Trilokpuri, Girish Soni, Madan Lal from Kasturba Nagar, Rajesh Rishi from Janakpuri, Bhupender Singh June from Bijwasan, Naresh Yadav from Mehrauli and Pawan Sharma from Adarsh Nagar joined BJP in the presence of party’s Delhi unity Virendra Sachdeva and election in-charge Baijayant Panda.
With Delhi polls scheduled for Wednesday, the Election Commission has emphasised to Chief Electoral Officer Delhi that close tracking should be made by all the enforcement agencies for tracking all forms of misuse of money power and inducement to voters and no party shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities.
In a letter sent by the Election Commission on Saturday, its secretary BC Patra laid emphasis on a series of measures to ensure free and fair elections. It referred to the meeting held on Saturday with concerned officials and laid out points for special focus.
The letter said that the Election Commission has issued directions to Observers, District Election Officers, Returning offices, Senior Officers of Municipal Authorities (MCD, NDMC and Cantonment Board) and police authorities during the review meetings to ensure free, fair and inducement-free elections of the Delhi assembly.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi on Saturday mentioned that 6,980 out of 7,553 eligible voters have cast their votes so far for the Delhi Assembly Elections under the home voting facility. The service commenced on January 24 and will remain available until Tuesday, February 4, a day before regular voting begins.
The initiative aims to facilitate voting for senior citizens above 85 years of age and persons with disabilities (PwDs), enabling them to participate more easily in the electoral process.
Additionally, 206 poll teams have been deployed across the 70 constituencies to facilitate home voting.
To facilitate the voting for elderly and PwDs who wish to cast their vote at polling stations, the Election Commission has arranged for 8,715 volunteers and 4,218 wheelchairs to be stationed at polling locations across the national capital.
The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled to take place on February 5, while counting of votes will be held on February 8.