By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, May 11, 2019 (BSS) – The fate of 164 candidates in polls of
seven lok sabha constituencies of Delhi would be determined on Sunday as more
than 1.4 crore voters are registered to exercise their franchise along with
other 52 constituencies in another six states where election is scheduled to
be held tomorrow.
According to the Election Commission source, the Lok Sabha election to 59
constituencies in seven states including Delhi would be held in the 6th phase
of the Indian national election tomorrow.
The7th and last phase of the lok Sabha polls would be held on May 19 in 59
constituencies of eight states. The votes would be counted on May 23.
In the 6th phase, voting would be held in eight constituencies in Bihar,
10 in Haryana, four in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 14 in Uttar
Pradesh, eight in West Bengal and seven in Delhi. Voting will start at 7 am
and it will continue till 6 pm.
The contesting candidates have completed their election campaigns
yesterday in line with the model code of conduct through their road shows.
The election to this national capital is seemed to be a crucial one as
Delhi is set to witness a triangular contest among the Aam Admi Party (APP),
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the congress in the current general
election. Besides, 40 people have been contesting as independent candidates
from Delhi constituencies.
The BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi in the 2014 elections. In
2009, it was the Congress which won all seats in the national capital.
However, victory margins in six out of seven parliamentary constituencies
(PCs) came down between 2009 and 2014, media report says.
“It is likely that, unlike in 2014, the BJP could face some amount of
anti-incumbency in Delhi. This could lead to a reduction in its 2014 vote
share,” The Hindustan Times reported in its today’s issue.
The report said that between 1999 and 2004, the BJP’s vote share had come
down by 10 percentage points in Delhi. If something similar were to happen,
the contest could really open up in some of the constituencies, it added.
However, the authorities have beefed up security measures in the national
capital ahead of the election to avoid any untoward incidents and to check
misuse of money and liquor to influence the voters.
The measures, which included deployment of additional police forces,
installing CCTVs and stationing micro observers, have been taken as 741
polling booths were identified as critical, media report said.