Polling for the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi began on Saturday morning in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election amid tight security arrangements, an official said.
The weather department has issued a “yellow alert” for the day, predicting the mercury could reach a maximum of 44 degrees Celsius. The Delhi election department has made adequate preparations for voters due to the heat.
People were seen queuing outside polling stations even before voting commenced at 7 am.
A total of 1.52 crore voters — 82 lakh males, 69 lakh females, and 1,228 from the third gender category — are eligible to cast their votes at more than 13,000 polling booths across the seven constituencies, according to the official.
There are over 2.52 lakh first-time voters in the city this time.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Kuldeep Kumar from East Delhi, Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi, Somnath Bharti from New Delhi, and Sahi Ram Pahalwan from South Delhi.
The Congress has nominated J P Agarwal from Chandni Chowk, Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi, and Udit Raj from North West Delhi.
The BJP candidates are Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi, the only sitting MP from Delhi fielded by the party again; Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi, Harsh Deep Malhotra from East Delhi, Yogendra Chandolia from North West Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk, and Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi.
The BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 and 2019 general elections with large margins and is aiming for a clean sweep for the third time in a row.
The opposition INDIA bloc partners AAP and Congress are contesting the elections in Delhi under a four-three seat-sharing formula.
This is the first Lok Sabha election in Delhi where AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates against the BJP, posing a stiff challenge to the ruling party at the Centre. (With inputs from PTI)
