Lok Sabha elections 2019 sixth phase Delhi: Congress, BJP and AAP are in a three-cornered fight
Delhi's turn has come to vote in the Lok Sabha election in the sixth phase on Sunday. The state chiefs of the three main parties - Congress, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party - are fighting from a single constituency, North East Delhi. At least 164 candidates, 18 of them women, are fighting for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. The BJP is looking at a stellar win like it did in 2014 when the party took all the seven seats, while the Congress is counting on its campaign of equality across all sections and the Aam Aadmi Party is hoping to reap the support of people with the programmes it ran, especially education reforms. The run-up to the election has not been without drama, with allegations and counter-allegations of derogatory attacks on leaders between AAP and BJP breaking out before election day.
Here's your 10-point cheat sheet on the election in Delhi:
The campaigns got off to a slow start as alliance talks between the AAP and the Congress lingered on till the last days of nomination, but it gained momentum over the last fortnight with senior leaders drawing huge crowds at rallies and roadshows across Delhi.
In the last leg, the Delhi campaign of all the main parties became intense after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a massive rally at Ramlila Maidan. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi addressed two public meetings, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took out two roadshows.
From trying to form a personal bond with voters at parks at 6 in the morning to holding door-to-door campaigns, the candidates sweated it under the blazing sun as the temperature reached the 40 degree Celsius mark.
In North East Delhi constituency, the city's BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit and Delhi AAP chief Dilip Pandey will fight it out.
Apart from the three city chiefs of the main parties, the other prominent candidates are BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi, who is contesting from New Delhi, and AAP's Atishi, contesting from East Delhi.
The run-up to the election in Delhi saw much drama with AAP national convenor and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slapped by a man during a roadshow. Atishi also broke down at a press conference over "derogatory pamphlets".
Olympian boxer Vijender Singh is making his electoral debut from South Delhi on a BJP ticket. Union minister Harsh Vardhan is contesting from Chandni Chowk, and cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir is fighting on a BJP ticket from East Delhi.
The BJP's campaign revolved around the party's high-pitched nationalism narrative and PM Modi's policies. The Congress pressed on with its NYAY announcement that promises to pay poor families over Rs 72,000 a year. The AAP is banking on its promise to fight for full statehood for Delhi.
A total of 13,819 polling stations has been set up at 2,700 locations across Delhi, with one model polling station in each of the 70 assembly segments. Seventeen polling stations will be staffed only by women.
According to the summary of the electoral roll published on April 23, there are over 1.43 crore voters in Delhi - 78,73,022 male and 64,42,762 female, while 669 belong to the third gender. At least 2,54,723 voters are in the age group of 18 and 19.
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