Delhi Assembly election results 2020 | Counting of votes begins now

Exit polls predict a big win for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party

Counting of votes polled in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly elections began at 8 a.m. amid tight security at various centres, with exit polls predicting a big win for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

“The postal ballots will be counted first till around 8.30 am and then the votes cast through electronic voting machines will be counted,” Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh. “The counting centres are spread across 21 locations, spanning the 70 constituencies. Each centre has several counting halls, equal to the number of constituencies falling in that district.”

The curiosity among people to know the outcome of the elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly has heightened post-exit polls and the delay in announcement of the final voter turnout by authorities.

BJP leaders have, however, maintained that the exit poll results that predicted its defeat in the Delhi polls will “fail” as the surveys did not take into account the votes polled in the evening.

delhi election

Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal is contesting against Sunil Kumar Yadav of the BJP and Congress’ Romesh Sabharwal. Yadav, a lawyer and chief of the Delhi BJP youth wing, has appealed to people to vote for someone who will be ‘accessible’. Sabharwal, a first-timer, was the State NSUI president in 1987-88 and has been an executive member of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee since 2004.

33 counting observers; 'foolproof and non-tamperable' EVMs

Each EVM consists of a ballot unit (BU), a controls units (CU) and a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT.)

From every Assembly constituency, five VVPATs will be randomly selected and they will be counted, he said.

The counting centres are located across the 11 districts, including at CWG Sports Complex in East Delhi, NSIT Dwarka in West Delhi, Meerabai Institute of Technology and GB Pant Institute of Technology in Southeast Delhi, Sir CV Raman ITI, Dheerpur in Central Delhi, and Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana in North Delhi.

There will be 33 counting observers, officials said.

There were 13,780 polling booths where every vote was accounted for by the presiding officers which is a time-consuming exercise, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said at a press conference on Sunday.

Critical and vulnerable polling locations, numbered 545 and spanned 3,843 booths.

In view of the ongoing anti-CAA protest in Shaheen Bagh, the Delhi CEO’s Office had put all five polling stations in the area under the “critical” category.

Security personnel kept guard at strong rooms storing electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, a day ahead of the polls, had said all EVMs were tested and they were “foolproof and non-tamperable”.

 

Congress rejects exit poll results

A day after voting in Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress on Sunday rejected the exit poll results, most of which predicted little or no change in the party’s fortunes from 2015. The party the result, to be declared on February 11, would “surprise everyone”.