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57.7% Voting Till 5 pm In Delhi, AAP Eyes Hat-Trick, BJP Fights For Capital Win

Delhi Assembly Election 2025: A loss in Delhi at this point will be a huge setback for the 10-year-old AAP while a victory against all the odds will firmly establish its credentials as an intrepid competitor of the BJP.

Delhi Assembly Poll 2025 Voting: Aam Aadmi Party has swept the last two elections.

New Delhi:

Voting for Delhi's 70 Assembly seats - a triangular contest between the AAP, BJP, and Congress - began at 7am Wednesday. This is seen as a key election for AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal, given corruption allegations against him and his party.

Here are the top 10 points in this story:

  1. The provisional voter turnout at 5pm (with one hour left) was 57.7 per cent. Voter turnout in each of the past two elections was over 60 per cent and, in each of those polls, the AAP recorded dominant wins, securing over 60 seats. The last time voter turnout was below 60 per cent was in 2008, when the Congress claimed a third consecutive term.

  2. Results of exit polls will be announced shortly - i.e., after voting closes at 6pm. The first trends and data are expected around 6.30pm. A poll of exit polls for the previous two Delhi elections correctly predicted victories for Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP.

  3. Voting today was largely peaceful, except for the AAP and BJP trading of allegations of 'fake voting', and distribution of cash in exchange for votes. For the former, ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, contesting from Jungpura, led the charge. For the BJP, state boss Virendra Sachdeva accused the AAP of "facilitating fake voting".

  4. The backdrop for this poll includes the corruption allegations against AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal and other senior party leaders, including Mr Sisodia. The two were accused in the liquor policy row and jailed for months before bail from the Supreme Court.

  5. The backdrop also includes fierce swipes from the BJP and the Congress over the annual air quality crisis, the condition of public infrastructure in the city, including massive traffic jams, poor roads, and the faltering healthcare and education systems.

  6. What also became a major poll issue was the allegation, by Mr Kejriwal, that the BJP's government in neighbouring Haryana had mixed "poison" in the Yamuna River water it supplied to Delhi. The BJP hit back hard, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah weighing in. The Election Commission issued notices to the AAP leader asking him to provide proof, while police cases were filed against him in Haryana.

  7. The impartiality of the EC also became an issue in this poll, with Mr Kejriwal and Chief Minister Atishi both claiming it (and Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry) is blatantly favouring the BJP. The EC issued a stern response last evening.

  8. The BJP, meanwhile, is hoping for a first victory in a Delhi election since the late 1990s; since then the Congress, and then the AAP, have dominated. This time around, the party has pinned its hopes on Mr Modi and concerted attacks on Mr Kejriwal, including claims he used Rs 45 crore of taxpayers' money for luxurious renovations of his bungalow.

  9. The Congress, meanwhile, is hoping to emerge from the fringes. Apart from a few wins - Himachal Pradesh in 2022 and Karnataka in 2023 - there has been precious little for the party to hang its hat on; the April-June federal election last year provided some positive moment with the party securing 99 seats, its best result in 15 years.

  10. Looking back, the AAP made its debut in 2013 and emerged a surprise winner; it was not the largest party, but allied with the Congress to form the government. However, that alliance lasted less than two year. In 2015 - driven by an emotional public apology from Mr Kejriwal - the party returned with a thumping majority, an edge it held in 2020 also.

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