The shocking delay in Delhi voter turnout data by the Election Commission has sparked a controversy

• The Election Commission finally declared the voter turnout for Delhi assembly elections at – 62.59%.
• But the delay in voter turnout final numbers had led to speculation. Incumbent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a Tweet called it “absolutely shocking”.
• The voter turnout on Saturday was really slow in the morning and picked up only in the late evening.

The Election Commission finally declared the voter turnout for Delhi assembly elections late Sunday – at 62.59%. It is lower than the 2015 turnout which was 67.13%.

“There has been a delay. Polling continued till late Saturday evening and then the machines kept coming into the reception centre till late night. They were then sealed inside the strong room. All our officers were busy working through the night, from morning 11 am we started the scrutiny,” Delhi chief electoral officer, Dr. Ranbir Singh told the media.

But the delay in voter turnout final numbers had led to endless speculation. Incumbent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet called it “absolutely shocking”.



There were several others too who joined in the discussion.



Former Chief Election Commissioner of India Dr S.Y. Quraishi too kept retweeting tweets about the mismatch in numbers on the voter turnout app after polling had ended.

The voter turnout on Saturday was really slow in the morning and picked up only in the late evening. As of 5 pm, the voter turnout stood at 53.51%, according to the official voter turnout app. The voting started at 8 am and ended at 6 pm on February 8. The results will be out on February 11. As many as 1.46 crore are eligible to vote in this assembly election. There are over 672 candidates in the fray.

Almost all the exit polls have predicted a comfortable victory for the Aam Aadmi Party government. The exit polls say that AAP could win 48-68 seats out of the 70 seats in Delhi, while the BJP could bag 11-19 seats. The minimum seats needed to form a government is 36.

The AAP government has tackled various issues close to the middle class like - education, water and power supply and more. However, the BJP too had stepped in promising homes to slum dwellers - which became a bone of contention between Modi and Kejriwal governments.

The incumbent Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s manifesto promised Jan Lokpal 24X7 markets.

See Also:
Delhi Exit Polls 2020: AAP will win but won’t sweep as BJP makes dent, as per poll of polls