India is going to sixth phase of polling on Sunday in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which will decide the fate of several prominent candidates. National capital Delhi votes tomorrow along with six other states.
In Delhi, voting will be held in all seven seats, from where 164 candidates are in the fray. BJP had won all these seats in the 2014 elections, but it’s likely to see a tough battle this time in a three-cornered fight with the AAP and the Congress pitting strong candidates.
There are over 14 crore registered voters in Delhi, of whom more than 2.5 lakh are first-time voters, while over 40,000 are differently-abled.
The voting will begin at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
According to the Delhi Election Commission, one “model polling station” will be there in each of the 70 Assembly segments while 17 polling stations will be staffed only by women.
All arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of the single-phase election in Delhi.
Nearly 61,000 security personnel, including Home Guards and paramilitary forces personnel, have been deployed across the national capital, according to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik. As many as 47 companies comprising of 100 paramilitary personnel each would also be deployed to avoid any untoward incident.
Of the total 13,819 polling booths at 2,700 locations, 450 booths have been identified as “critical” where static surveillance team and flying squad team have been deployed to keep a close watch.
Security personnel have been deployed at polling booths and special reserve parties and policemen are patrolling in vulnerable areas. The Police Control Room Unit will also stay alert to calls of any complaints being made, especially relating to the election process, police said.
“The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is being strictly enforced. There is a special watch on border areas to foil any attempt to infiltrate by anti-social elements to cause disruption,” Patnaik said.
Delhi has been declared a “dry day” on Sunday, starting from 5 pm on Saturday. Police said even bar owners located in border areas of Noida had been asked to close.
Anti-terror measures are in place and special arrangements made to check sabotage of polling booths, including election rigging, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) and Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma.
He said extra picket teams have been deployed in border areas too. “Briefings were held with the polling staff on dispersal of EVMs and the routes to be taken to ensure no rigging of EVMs occurs on the way. Night patrolling has been intensified to check use of muscle power and money to lure voters,” Verma said.
The police said they received as many as 40 complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations from various political parties and action was taken accordingly.
Bus, Delhi Metro timings changed
Bus and Delhi Metro services will start early morning on Sunday.
The Delhi Transport Corporation will run its services from 4 am on Sunday on 35 major routes across the city.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) too will start operations from 4 am instead of 6 am on most routes. Trains on the Blue Line — from Dwarka Sector 21 towards Vaishali and Noida — will run from 4.30 am.
“On the day of the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi on Sunday, May 12, the Delhi Metro train services on all lines will start from 4 am, so that the staff deployed for election duty can avail the facility,” said a DMRC statement.
The frequency will 6 am will be 30 minutes on all lines, after which the trains will follow the normal Sunday timetable.
READ | Lok Sabha elections 2019 Phase 6 | Key constituencies, contenders in 7 states
Delhi Votes: All you need to know
Number of constituencies: 7
Names of constituencies: Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi, North West Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi
Total Number of voters: 14,316,453
Number of male voters: 7873022
Number of female voters: 6442762
Number of third gender voters: 669
Number of contesting candidates: 164
Number of polling stations: 13,819
Delhi key contests
East Delhi: Gautam Gambhir of BJP versus Arvinder Singh Lovely of Congress versus AAP’s Atishi
North East Delhi: BJP’s Manoj Tiwari versus Sheila Dikshit of Congress versus Dilip Pandey of AAP
New Delhi: BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi versus Congress’ Ajay Maken versus AAP’s Brijesh Goyal