New Delhi: BJP candidate from Kalkaji assembly seat, Ramesh Bidhuri said that the people of Delhi will vote for development, alleging that the current government has destroyed the national capital over the past decade.
He asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to develop the national capital like other parts of India.
"The people of Delhi are going to vote for the development of the national capital...in the last 10 years, they have destroyed Delhi, PM Modi wants to develop Delhi like the rest of the country. I appeal to the people to vote for the development of Delhi...Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Atishi, they are all going to lose the election..," he said.
Till 10 am this morning, several leaders from the BJP had cast their votes. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his wife, Kyoko Jaishankar, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and his wife, Lakshmi Puri, have also voted. Additionally, Vijender Gupta and Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva had also cast their votes .
As of 9 am, the Election Commission of India (ECI) reported the following voter turnout percentages by district: Central district recorded a turnout of 6.67%, East district reported 8.21%, North district had 7.12%, North West district showed 7.66%, Shahdara reached 8.92%, South district recorded 8.43%, South East district was at 8.36%, and West district noted a turnout of 6.76%.
Polling for 70 assembly seats began on Wednesday morning in Delhi, as voters cast their ballots for the 8th Assembly amid tight security.
Voting commenced at 7.00 am and will continue till 6.00 pm, officials said.
Hotly contested constituencies include New Delhi, Jangpura, Kalkaji, Okhla, Mustafabad, Bijwasan, Kasturba Nagar, Greater Kailash, and Patparganj, among others.
AAP, which currently holds more than 60 seats in the 70-seat assembly, seeks re-election based on its previous terms' achievements.
The New Delhi seat sees a high-profile three-way contest with former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), BJP's Parvesh Verma, and Congress's Sandeep Dikshit (son of former CM Sheila Dikshit). Jangpura sees a contest between AAP's Manish Sisodia, Congress's Farhad Suri, and BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah.
A total of 699 candidates is in the electoral fray on the 70 assembly constituency seats of the national capital.(ANI)