Delhi Assembly Election Results: Early trends show advantage AAP | 10 points

The counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly Election Results 2020 will start at 8 am. Read more for full details on Delhi Assembly elections, counting timing, centres, security, key contestants and when and where to catch results.

Delhi assembly election results will be declared today. Will Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) win a third term in the national capital or will BJP led by Manoj Tiwari make the cut and revive itself after 22 years, results will be known in few hours from now.

One of the most closely watched elections across the nation will culminate with the results on Tuesday.

The counting of votes began at 8 am with early trends giving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party an advantage. The early trends showed the AAP on course to return to power in Delhi.

Here are the 10 things to know about Delhi Assembly Election Results 2020:

1) Authorities in the Delhi CEO Office are gearing up for the counting of votes and adequate arrangements have been made at the centres spread across 21 location in the national capital. The counting of votes will start at 8 am. The first trends will start coming in from 9 am. If the voting is as polar as exit polls suggest, the results should be clear before noon. Catch the full coverage of Delhi Assembly Elections and Results live at India Today TV and India Today Digital from 7 am.

2) The people across India, not just Delhi, are waiting for the results with the bated breath as the campaign for the Delhi Assembly was fought by the BJP with unprecedented vigour. From bigwigs like Amit Shah, PM Narendra Modi, JP Nadda and most state CMs from the BJP came out to seek votes from the Delhiites. On the other hand, incumbent CM Arvind Kejriwal ran his campaign on the plank of development, education, electricity and water. BJP’s campaign was centred around the issues of anti-CAA protests and nationalism. Congress, which had ruled Delhi three times straight before Kejriwal, did not put many efforts into the war.

3) While the BJP infused the maximum star power, exit polls have favoured AAP. All exit polls released on Saturday said that it will be an easy win for AAP. Most exit polls also predicted that Congress is unlikely to open its account even this time in Delhi, which it ruled from 1998-2013. India Today-My Axis India survey predicts that AAP is likely to win 59-68 seats, and the BJP to win 2-11 seats. The Congress, just like in 2015, is unlikely to win any seat in the 70-member Delhi assembly.

4) On Saturday, 62.9 per cent of the 1.47 crore eligible voters in Delhi had cast their vote at 13,780 polling booths. Ballimaran constituency recorded the highest voter turnout of 71.6 per cent among all the 70 assembly seats in the national capital, while Delhi Cantonment brought up the rear in polling percentage, according to data shared by officials on Sunday. Okhla constituency recorded 58.84 per cent. Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Nagar fall in Okhla assembly constituency, where hectic polling had taken place till late afternoon. Protesters at Shaheen Bagh had taken turns on polling day on Saturday to cast votes to keep the agitation alive. Seelampur constituency recorded a turnout of 71.2 per cent, according to the data. The turnout in the 2015 Assembly polls stood at 67.47 per cent.

5) Questions were once again raised against the security of the EVMs. On Sunday, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal raised doubts on the integrity of the EVMs and alleged that voting machines were being kept outside strong rooms illegally. he also raised questions on delay in final voting percentage. later in the day, the Election Commission held a press conference to explain the delay and assure that EVMs were secure. India Today TV team checked the security at the strongrooms and found it adequate. Around 24 hours after the voting ended, the EC released the final vote count figures.

6) While Aam Adami Party seems sure of victory the Bharatiya Janata Party is also exuding confidence. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari asserted that his party will win more than 45 seats in the 70-membered assembly and form the government. Delhi BJP’s media relations head Neelkant Bakshi said after an in-depth analysis, we have found that the BJP was ahead of the AAP in most of the seats. Meanwhile, AAP is already planning to celebrate its victory. Party functionaries said though preparations are underway to celebrate the victory in the polls. Other preparations to celebrate the victory, including ordering sweets and namkeens, are also underway at the party headquarters in ITO. However, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has asked party workers to not burst crackers in celebrations.

7) For counting, the city has been divided into 11 regions North, North-West, North-East, Shahdara, East, West, Central, South, South-West, South-East and New Delhi. Within each, there are one or more locations that contain votes of the Assembly constituencies falling under it. Most strong rooms are in public schools or government establishments. The counting centres include 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, among other places.

8) Counting of votes will be done amid tight security cover. Delhi Election Commission has deployed 33 counting observers to ensure fair counting. The strong rooms are being protected by Delhi Police, paramilitary force, fire tender, PCR and barricading. Along with the security, the representatives of various political parties were also present to detect any foul play.

9) Interesting battles were fought in New Delhi, Dwarka and Chandni Chowk. New Delhi saw BJP’s Sunil Yadav taking on AAP chief and CM Arvind Kejriwal. In Dwarka, incumbent Adarsh Shastri – ex-PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson, switched sides to contest from Congress, while ex-Congress leader Vinay Kumar Mishra contested on AAP ticket. A similar conundrum fell upon Chandni Chowk voters as they had incumbent Alka Lamba contest on Congress seat, whereas ex-Congress MLA Parlad Sawhney was fielded by the AAP. Incumbent deputy CM Manish Sisodia is up against BJP’s Ravi Negi from Patparganj. The area falls under East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency which is led by BJP’s Gautam Gambhir.

10) In the 2015 Delhi elections, winning AAP had secured an absolute majority in the assembly, winning 67 of the 70 seats. However, if the voting percentages are compared Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had won 54.3 per cent voters, BJP 32.3 per cent and Congress 9.7 per cent, voters. As compared to the 2013 polls, when BJP had won 34 and AAP 28, the vote swing for the saffron party was less than 1 per cent. AAP, however, had managed to swing over 14 per cent of votes from Congress’s kitty to its own to win the elections. If past data is any indicator, voter turnouts in Delhi can throw surprises despite assertive exit polls.