The Delhi bypoll was passed with a low turnout of 43.75 per cent. (Representative)
New Delhi:
A senior official said on Saturday that the stage is set for the counting of votes during the recently concluded Rajinder Nagar Assembly bypoll in Delhi, which includes a three-tier security cordon around the strong room.
Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said that the counting of votes will start at 8 am on Sunday.
“We have made all arrangements for the exercise. The strong room is fully secured with a three-tier security cover. A counting center has been set up at ITI Pusa,” he said.
“First of all, the postal ballot papers will be counted and those ballot papers which have been received from service voters till 8 am tomorrow, only those will be considered for counting of votes,” he said. After that the EVM votes will be counted.
He said that there would be a separate special box for counting the VVPAT slips.
According to officials, 43.67 per cent male and 43.86 per cent female voters cast their vote in the by-elections held on June 23. The percentage of voters of the third gender was 50 percent.
The bypolls were conducted peacefully with 43.75 per cent low turnout.
This is significantly lower than the figures recorded in the 2020 elections, when the turnout in Rajinder Nagar was 58.27 per cent – 58.09 per cent male voters and 58.5 per cent female voters.
A total of 1,64,698 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-election, with 14 candidates trying their luck, though it was largely seen as a fight between a confident AAP and a spirited BJP.
AAP’s Durgesh Pathak is likely to face a close contest with BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia, who has also been a corporator from the area. Congress candidate is Prem Lata.
AAP and BJP have expressed confidence that their candidates will win with a huge margin.
Officials had earlier said that this was the first election exercise in Delhi after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. And, 24 Covid-positive voters came to exercise their franchise in the by-election.
Of the total eligible voters for the by-election, 92,221 are males, 72,473 females and four are from third gender.
Also, there are 1,899 voters in this assembly seat in the age group of 18-19, as per the data shared earlier by the office of the Delhi CEO.
A senior official said a total of 190 polling stations, including 13 ancillary ones, were set up at 21 locations and “very minor defects” in EVMs were reported at some booths, and replacements were made accordingly.
Covid-positive voters were allowed to vote in the last one hour after regular voters exercised their franchise, following all safety protocols like masks and gloves.
The turnout in the Rajinder Nagar bypoll was lower than the figures recorded in the Rajouri Garden bypoll (46.5 per cent) and the Bawana bypoll (44.8 per cent), both held in 2017.
In the 2015 elections, the two assembly seats in Delhi saw a turnout of 72 per cent and 61.83 per cent, respectively.
Recently, a by-election had to be held after AAP leader Raghav Chadha left the seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. Chadha was an MLA from Rajinder Nagar assembly seat.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)