Delhi Assembly election results: Comfortable win for AAP as per prediction by exit pools

Counting of
votes for Delhi Assembly elections began on Tuesday morning, and very early
trends show that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading on 33 seats, while
BJP is ahead on 12.

The exit
polls (at least five of them) have predicted a comfortable win for AAP in
Delhi. Its leaders too, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have
expressed confidence that they will be given the mandate to govern Delhi for
the third time.

Ahead of the
counting, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “We are confident of a win
today because we have worked for people in the last 5 years.”

The
elections on 70 Assembly seats of Delhi were held on Saturday after an
aggressive campaign by AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is
seeking to return to power in Delhi after a gap of 22 years.

BJP leaders
have maintained that the exit poll predictions about the party’s failure will
fall flat as the surveys did not take into account the votes polled late in the
evening.

The BJP had
mounted one of the most aggressive campaigns in the Delhi Assembly polls, with
Union Home Minister Amit Shah leading the charge on its plank of nationalism,
and it’s harsh opposition to Shaheen Bagh protests. The issue often dominated
the political discourse during the campaign, with many BJP leaders targeting
the AAP, and the Congress, accusing them of “misleading people” holding
anti-CAA protests in Delhi.

Arvind
Kejriwal-led AAP, however, sought to retain power on development plank.

The counting
of votes, meanwhile, will take a lot of time. The postal ballot counting has
been initiated first, after which the EVM counting will begin. “The EVMs are
absolutely secure. There is a set protocol for their movement from the sealing
to the counting, and at every stage, the candidates and parties are involved so
that everything transparent,” said Satnam Singh, special chief electoral office
(CEO), Delhi.

As per
guidelines of the Election Commission (EC), there are 14 counting tables for
each assembly constituency at each round of counting.

The Delhi
assembly elections were concluded on February 8 with a voter turnout of 62.59%.