New Delhi: The city witnessed a lacklustre turnout in the first half of the assembly polls today as only around 21.23% of the enlisted voters turned up till 1 pm.
In comparison, the 2015 election had witnessed 36% voting by this time with an overall turnout of 67.12%. Voters can cast ballots till 6 pm.
It is expected that polling will pick up as the day progresses considering that the temperatures are low today.
Both leading parties, AAP and BJP, have not shied away from personal attacks in campaigns.
Also read: Delhi Elections Live: At 1 pm, Voter Turnout Rises to 19.37%
Congress’s Chandni Chowk candidate Alka Lamba got into an altercation with an AAP worker outside a polling booth, a purported video of which has gone viral. The worker audibly makes a severely misogynist comment at Lamba.
The video shows Lamba arguing with the AAP worker and then lunging at him.
The saffron party had also attacked AAP for supporting the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh and the question religion and words like “Pakistan” and “biryani” were liberally used. While since morning polling booths in Shaheen Bagh witnessed a large turnout of voters, the same was not the case in other parts of the capital with only around 6% voting taking place till 11 am.
However, a large number of prominent leaders and government functionaries were early starters and cast their vote in the first part of the day. Among them were former Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who turned up with her husband Robert Vadra and son, Raihan.
From the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, chief minister and founder Arvind Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia and national spokesperson Sanjay Singh were among those who turned up early.
BJP veteran and former deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and several party MPs such as cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and Parvesh Verma, who was barred from campaigning twice by the Election Commission for divisive comments, were among those who turned out to vote.
(With PTI inputs)