NEW DELHI: Delhiites brave heat to vote in Lok Sabha elections, with a 57.67% turnout. Key issues include unemployment, women’s safety, and development.
Despite the heat wave, Delhiites stepped out of their houses to vote on Saturday, May 25, 2024, during the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election in Delhi. The national capital saw a voter turnout of 57.67%. The highest turnout was observed in North-east Delhi at 62.87%, while the lowest turnout was recorded in New Delhi at 52.93%.
In the national capital, the main contest is between the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, comprising the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The BJP fielded Manoj Tiwari from north-east Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi, Ramveer Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk, Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi, and Yogendra Chandolia from the Northwest seat against I.N.D.I.A. bloc candidate Somnath Bharti from New Delhi, Sahiram Pehalwan from South Delhi, Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi, J.P. Agarwal from Chandni Chowk, Kanhaiya Kumar from North-East Delhi, Udit Raj from Northwest Delhi, and Kuldeep Kumar from East Delhi.
The Sunday Guardian interacted with the voters who came out of the polling stations after casting their votes.
Pride Thomas, a resident of Rajouri Garden, told The Sunday Guardian that he has cast his vote based on the issue of unemployment and hopes the new government will resolve it soon.
Another voter, Preeti Pandey, who cast her vote in Dwaraka Sector 11, said that she voted on the agenda of women’s safety and education.
Faiz Alam, a voter in Chandni Chowk, voted in favour of the BJP. He said, “We want Modi ji as our prime minister for the betterment of the country in the coming future.”
Rahul Goyal, a businessman from Chawri Bazar, said that he had voted based on the issue of national security. “I have voted on the agenda of infrastructural development,” said Amit Gupta, a trader at Khari Baoli.
Vinay Narang, president of the Auto Parts Merchant Association of Kashmere Gate, said, “I cast my vote in favour of Praveen Khandelwal, the BJP’s Chandni Chowk candidate, in the hope that he will raise the issues of traders in the Parliament.”
North East Constituency has seen the highest numbers of voters who voted on the agendas of inflation, education, unemployment, development, women’s safety, etc.
First-time voter, Karan Singh told The Sunday Guardian that “He cast his vote on the issue of education.”
Ramesh, a 50-year-old voter, said that he has cast his vote on the infrastructural development issues as the northeast Delhi constituency lacks that.
Manpreet Singh, a West Delhi voter, told The Sunday Guardian that he voted on national issues and wanted to see the same government in the centre, as India needs strong leadership.
Priya Kaur, from West Delhi, said, “Today I cast my vote on the issue of women’s safety, as Delhi is not safe for women.”
President of India, Droupadi Murmu, Union ministers like S. Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Minister Atishi, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and outgoing East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir and Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud were among the high-profile voters who cast their votes amid the heat wave.
After casting his vote at a polling centre in New Delhi, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “Today I fulfilled my duty as a citizen by casting my vote. I had earlier also said that this is a major responsibility of every citizen.”
On the other hand, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “People are voting in large numbers against dictatorship, inflation, and unemployment.”
To ensure comfortable and peaceful voting, the Election Commission of India made comprehensive arrangements at all polling stations in the capital.
According to the Chief Election Officer, Delhi has 13,641 polling stations, out of which 2891 polling booths were identified as critical, and they went under direct monitoring. More than 60,000 personnel from the Delhi Police and paramilitary and reserve forces were deployed across the city during the election to secure the polling stations and ensure free and fair polling. The cops have been strategically posted at the 13,637 polling stations in 2,627 locations, with a higher deployment at the critical booths. Officers revealed that besides policemen from Delhi, 51 teams of paramilitary forces and 17,500 Home Guards were also deployed to ensure no untoward incident took place.