The vote counting for the Delhi Assembly elections began on Saturday, with prominent leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) such as party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and the current Chief Minister Atishi facing tough competition in the initial stages.
In the New Delhi constituency, Kejriwal found himself trailing behind the BJP’s Parvesh Verma, while Sisodia was challenged in Jangpura by BJP’s Parwinder Marwah. Atishi was also behind, contending against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri in the Kalkaji constituency.
On a more positive note for the AAP, Gopal Rai, who serves as the Transport Minister, was ahead in Babarpur, and Amanatullah Khan from AAP was leading in Okhla.
As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in 19 seats, whereas the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was ahead in 5 seats as of 9:15 am during the early count. However, various television channels and agencies reported that the BJP was in the lead for 44 seats, with AAP leading in 21 and Congress securing one seat.
Election officials are set to count approximately 94.51 lakh votes cast in the single-phase election, which saw a competitive three-way contest involving the ruling AAP, the BJP, and the Congress. Voting concluded on Wednesday with a turnout of 60.54% of the total electorate, determining the fate of 699 candidates.
Across the 70 constituencies—comprising 58 general and 12 reserved seats—around 94.51 lakh voters participated in the election, utilizing 13,766 polling stations. Of the total voters, about 50.42 lakh were men, and 44.08 lakh were women, out of an overall voter base of approximately 1.56 crore in Delhi.
In terms of districts, North East Delhi had the highest voter turnout at 66.25%, while South East recorded the lowest at 56.40%. Constituency-wise, Mustafabad had the highest turnout at 69.01%, while Mehrauli had the lowest at 53.02%.
