An estimated 60.25 per cent of over 1.56 crore voters in Delhi on Wednesday exercised their franchise in the crucial Assembly elections in the national capital which were largely peaceful save stray incidents of clashes and allegations of booth capturing, impersonation and bribery.

Voting for the 70-member Assembly began on a subdued note early in the morning but gained momentum in the afternoon with people forming queues outside over 13,700 booths spread across the national capital.

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All three main contestants, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP and the Congress, claimed that the people of Delhi had voted in their favour. But the outcome of the elections will be known on Saturday when the votes are to be counted.

President Droupadi Murmu, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud were among the early voters.

Prominent among those from the AAP whose fate was sealed were its 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.

Key candidates from the BJP included 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.

According to the data issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), an estimated 60.25 per cent voter turnout was registered in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, a minor scuffle broke out between AAP and BJP supporters in the Jafrabad area of North East Delhi. However, no injuries were reported in the incident.

According to the police, the trouble started at 11.50 am when the BJP candidate from the Seelampur constituency levelled allegations of bogus voting against the AAP candidate at Aryan Public School voting centre.

Soon after receiving a complaint, some police officers, along with additional police personnel, reached the spot and sorted out the matter.

Taking note of AAP’s allegation against BJP for distributing money under the Jangpura Assembly seat, DCP South East Delhi in a post on X wrote, “Allegations of voter bribery at Sarai Kale Khan were promptly investigated. Police, along with the Executive Magistrate/FST, ensured thorough verification. No evidence was found to substantiate the claims.”

In response to AAP MP Raghav Chadha’s allegation that security personnel were blocking the entry of relievers, preventing them from replacing polling agents inside the booths, the District Election Office (DEO) of New Delhi said, “Some incidents regarding relievers not being allowed inside polling booths were reported by political parties.”

The DEO added, “However, on-ground verification revealed that polling agents inside were unwilling to come out, which prevented relievers from being accommodated. Sector officers and presiding officers have been sensitized to ensure the smooth relieving of polling agents.”

In the outgoing Assembly, the AAP had 62 seats while the BJP had eight. The Congress had failed to open its account in the last Assembly polls, held in 2020.

In the 2020 Assembly polls, Delhi had recorded 62.59 per cent turnout.

The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on February 8.