PM Modi pays last respect to former PM Manmohan Singh at his residence
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his last respects to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence in Delhi on Friday.
The results of the crucial, high-stakes election to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be declared today.
The counting of votes, which got underway at 8 am amid tight security, is taking place at 21 centres across Delhi.
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36 is the majority mark in the 70-member house.
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Delhi went to polls in a single phase on February 8.
The exit polls have projected the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party to retain power, the BJP to better its previous record and the Congress to remain a no-gainer with minimum zero and a maximum of two seats.
The overarching theme that emerges is that the AAP is all set to taste power in Delhi for the second time, while the BJP will have to sit in the opposition, probably with better numbers. The Congress will have been really lucky to send even one MLA in Delhi assembly this time as well.
The Delhi polls recorded a voter turnout of 62.59 per cent, which is around 5 per cent less than the last Assembly election which marked 67.5 per cent.
However, the voter turnout is about 2 per cent more than the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Okhla constituency which includes Shaheen Bagh — which has been the hotbed of the anti-CAA protest in the country where protesters have staged a sit-in for over 50 days — has witnessed a voter turnout of 58.8 per cent.
In the tripartite contest, BJP and AAP were seen competing at the forefront with massive campaigning being done by top leaders of both the parties in the national capital.
A total of 672 candidates were in the fray for the keenly watched battle of the national capital. Of them, 79 (12%), were women, up from 66 in the previous assembly elections.
Over 14.7 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
At 6.6 million, women make up 45% of the total Delhi electorate. More than 200,000 youngsters, aged between 18 and 19 years, will also be exercising their franchise, alongside 690 voters aged 100 years or above.
In the 2015 Delhi assembly election, out of 70 seats, the AAP won 67 and the BJP secured three seats.
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