The stage is set for voting on Wednesday in the Assembly elections in Delhi in what has turned out to be a no-holds-barred battle among the Aam Aadmi party (AAP), BJP and the Congress.

The ruling AAP is fighting with its back to the wall due to factors like anti-incumbency and charges of corruption against its top leaders while the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to recapture power in the national capital where it has remained in the opposition for the last 27 years.

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The Congress party has also put its best foot forward and is contesting the election on its own despite the fact that the grand old party and the AAP are part of the INDIA bloc.

Voting for the 70-member Assembly will begin at 7 am across 13,766 polling stations, manned by nearly 1,10,000 personnel, amid tight security. It will conclude at 6 pm.

The voting is scheduled across 13,766 polling stations, manned by a total of 1,09,955 people, including 68,733 polling personnel, amid tight security to avert any untoward incident. It will continue till 6 pm.

More than 1.56 crore voters will decide the fate of 699 candidates who are in the fray. Of the total numbers of voters eligible to exercise their franchise include 83,76,173 male, 72,36,560 female and 1,267 third gender electors. The total number of first time voters are 2,39,905.

From the AAP, the prestige of Chief Minister Atishi and several Ministers of her Cabinet including Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain, former Chief Minister and its national convener Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Somnath Bharti and Amanatullah Khan are at stake.

Prominent among the candidates from the BJP include former MPs—Parvesh Verma and 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 are its Delhi unit chief Devender Yadav, former MP Sandeep Dikshit, former MLAs—Anil Chaudhary, Haroon Yusuf and Alka Lamba.

Notably , the leaders of the AAP, BJP and Congress left no stone unturned to woo the voters during their campaign. Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president JP Nadda, key leaders from the saffron party who campaigned extensively included Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while for the AAP its national convener Kejriwal, Chief Minister Atishi, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Sisodia.

Congress’ national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were in the forefront.

The last day of campaigning on Monday turned into a direct fight between ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, ‘Kejriwal ki Guarantee’, and ‘Congress ki Guarantee’, with all three parties offering freebies to woo voters.

Mentioning polling preparedness, Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi R Alice Vaz said, “There will be 13,766 polling stations across Delhi, all of which will be closely monitored by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer and District Election Officers through webcasting.”

She said to ensure a smooth and comfortable voting experience, comprehensive arrangements have been made at all polling stations under the assured minimum facility.

“Proper arrangements for drinking water, toilets, wheelchairs, and ramps for the disabled are in place. We aim to provide all necessary facilities so that voters face no inconvenience at any polling station,” the CEO said.

To assist voters with election-related queries and compliance, Vaz said a 24-hour working helpline number, 1950, has been made available.

The CEO has also urged all eligible voters to participate in large numbers on Wednesday.

“On the day of voting, February 5th, I urge all voters in Delhi to come out in large numbers and cast their vote. It is our foremost responsibility as citizens to participate in this democratic process,” she said.