Delhi Election 2020: One more night to go to know who will rule Delhi

Delhiites will spend one more anxious night to know the winners of the Assembly elections in which 62.59% of 1.47 crore voters exercised their franchise to choose 70 MLAs.

Around a dozen exit polls have predicted that Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP will return to power riding on its performance, dashing the hopes of the BJP, which has been hoping to end its wilderness in power in the capital for the past 22 years despite a high-octane campaign based on nationalism and polarisation.

Also read — Delhi: Exit Polls give AAP another shot at power

The counting of votes will begin in 21 voting centres spread across the capital at 8 am. The final results are expected by early afternoon. Officials expect that a definitive trend will be known by 11 am.

Heavy security has been put in place in and around counting centres to ensure the smooth conduct of the exercise. Police is also on high alert in other parts of the capital to ensure that the results do not lead to law and order issues.

The voting percentage in this edition of Assembly election is better than that of the Lok Sabha election in May last year when it clocked 60.6%. However, it could not surpass the previous Assembly election records as 2015 had 67.12% turnout while in 2013, it was 65.63%. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Delhi polled 65.1%.

The "delay" in the release of the final voter turnout by Election Commission had invited criticism from AAP with Chief Minister and party supremo Kejriwal describing it as "absolutely shocking". However, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh said the returning officers worked throughout the night to check data to ensure that it was accurate.

According to the data provided by the poll body, 5 constituencies had a voting percentage above 70% while 48 had a voter turnout between 60% and 70%. Sixteen seats had a voting share of 50% to 60% while only one seat had less than 50% turnout.

Also read — Arvind Kejriwal vs EC over ‘delay’ in final Delhi voter turnout

The highest turnout was witnessed in Ballimaran (71.58%) while the lowest was recorded in Delhi Cantonment seat, where only 45.36% of voters came for exercising their franchise.

Among the male voters, 50.75 lakh (62.62%) of the 81.05 lakh voted while among women, it was 41.78 lakh (62.55%) of the 66.80 lakh. Among the third gender, 340 (39.12%) of the 869 exercised their franchise.

While the exit polls predict a sweep by AAP, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has rejected it and expressed hope that his party will win 48 seats.

If the exit polls turn true, this will AAP's third shot in power, the first being a 49-day government, which it formed with the support of Congress in 2013. The first Kejriwal government had resigned over the issue of the passage of Lokpal Bill.

Congress, which ruled the capital for 15 years between 1998 and 2013 under Sheila Dikshit, is expected to be a distant third and at least half of the exit polls predicted that it is unlikely to open the account like the 2015 polls while others give them a couple of seats.

For the BJP, which won the first Delhi Assembly election in 1993, has not been able to win the Assembly since then though it had been ruling the municipal bodies in the capital.