Rajinder Nagar bypoll: 15% polling in 4 hours, AAP Vs BJP in key battle
The by-election will be a litmus test for the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP administration in Delhi. The key election issues in this crucial assembly constituency have been water shortage and the government's liquor policy.
FollowNearly 15 per cent polling was recorded in the first four hours since voting began for the bypoll to Delhi's Rajinder Nagar seat where the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party are locked in direct battle.
The bypoll was necessitated after Raghav Chadha, who was the elected representative from here, entered Rajya Sabha from Punjab.
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The by-election will be a litmus test for the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP administration. The key election issues in this crucial assembly constituency have been water shortage and the government's liquor policy.
Both AAP and BJP are confident of winning the bypoll by a huge margin. The AAP claimed on Tuesday that it will record a "historic victory" in the bypoll and inflict a crushing defeat on the BJP.
Posters put up by the AAP carried the slogan 'Kejriwal ki sarkar, Kejriwal ka vidhayak'. The BJP, on the other hand, has been pitching that its nominee Rajesh Bhatia, being a local resident, would be able to better serve the people of the area. The posters put by the saffron party carried the slogan, 'sthaniya voter ko chahiye sthaniya vidhayak' (the locals want a local MLA).
A confident Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said two weeks of extensive campaigning had shown him that people are fed up with the neglect of Rajinder Nagar by the last two AAP MLAs. People here have made up their minds to vote for the BJP, he added.
A total of 14 candidates are in the fray and a total of 1,64,698 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. Besides candidates from AAP, BJP and the Congress, there are three other candidates from unrecognised parties and eight Independents contesting the bypoll.
To recall, the voter turnout in Rajinder Nagar in the 2020 polls was 58.27 per cent, which included 58.5 per cent female voters and 58.09 per cent male voters. The voter turnout was less than 50 per cent at 14 polling stations.
Monica Priyadarshini, District Magistrate and District Election Officer, New Delhi district said that a 'Focus 50' mission was launched in order to increase the voter turnout percentage in 50 booths where the least number of votes were cast. She further said that Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation or SVEEP campaigns were organised to improve voter turnout as compared to the last poll.
Besides, six companies of Central Armed Police Force personnel have been deployed and 1,000 poll personnel are on duty to ensure smooth polling.
The result of the Rajinder Nagar bypoll will be declared after the counting of votes on June 26.
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