Counting of votes polled in the crucial Delhi Assembly elections will be held on Saturday in what is likely to be a close race between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Counting across 19 centres in different parts of the national capital will begin at 8 am amid tight security. Postal ballots will be counted first.

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At least 10 exit polls have predicted a win for the BJP while two others suggest that the AAP may retain power with its tally of seats going down considerably. The Congress, which failed to open its account in the previous two Assembly elections, may be able to get one or two seats.

The AAP and Congress, however, rejected the exit polls prediction of a clean sweep for the saffron party.

In the outgoing Assembly, the AAP had 62 seats while the BJP had eight.

An estimated 60.54 per cent of over 1.56 crore voters in Delhi exercised their franchise in the Assembly elections conducted in a single phase on February 5, according to the data of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

“All the arrangements for a smooth and fair counting process have been made. Approximately 5,000 staff members, comprising Counting Supervisors, Counting Assistants, Micro Observers, Statistical Staff, and other supporting personnel, have been deployed and trained for the counting process,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi, R Alice Vaz said.

She also informed that the counting of voter slips of five VVPATs in each Assembly constituency will be randomly selected.

The CEO added that real time results can be accessed from the ECI website.

Mentioning security arrangements, Special Commissioner of Police and Nodal Officer Devesh Srivastva told the media that a multi-layered security arrangements have been put in place for the counting day.

“A multi-layered security arrangement has been made with the outer layer manned by Delhi police and inner layers by the CAPFs as per directives from the Election Commission of India (ECI). An Additional Deputy Commissioner level officer has been made in charge of each counting centre,” he said.

The Nodal Officer also informed that people having authorisation from ECI will be allowed inside the premises of the booths while mobile phones are prohibited inside the booths.

Prominent among those from the AAP whose fate will be decided include national convener and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister Atishi and several Ministers of her Cabinet including Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Somnath Bharti and Amanatullah Khan.

Bigwigs from the BJP include Parvesh Verma, Ramesh Bidhuri, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, Kapil Mishra, Kailash Gahlot, OP Sharma, Satish Upadhyay, Harish Khurana and Ravinder Negi, while form the Congress its Delhi unit chief Devender Yadav, former MP Sandeep Dikshit, former MLAs—Anil Chaudhary, Haroon Yusuf and Alka Lamba.