5.49 pm: Polling to continue in Delhi till 6.30 pm
The Election Commission has just announced that polling will continue in Delhi till 6.30 pm because of huge number of people still waiting in queues to vote.


5.16 pm 66% voter turnout recorded, says EC
The Elections Commission has said that 66% has been recorded in Delhi.
This is a record voter turnout as the last elections saw only 55%


5.05 pm: EC hopes for 70% turnout
As voting closed in the Delhi elections, the Election Commission is hoping for a record breaking 70% turnout in the state.
But it has said that there has certainly been more than 60% voting.


5.00 pm: Voting closes in Delhi

Voting has now closed in Delhi with New Delhi district recording polling of 74%.
RK Puram recorded polling of 80.05%, Greater Kailash 79.74%
and Okhla 55%.


4:00 pm: Voter turnout at 55 percent till 4 pm
The voter turnout is set to beat last year’s turnout with it already hitting 55 percent at 4 pm.
Last year’s turnout was 56 percent and the last hour of polling traditionally sees a lot more voting as voters rush to make the deadline.


3:30 pm: Shazia Ilmi says distribution of money, liquor like never before
AAP’s Shazia Ilmi just voted at Munirka. However, a BJP supporter outside the polling booth said he was convinced that this elections would see the result of a ‘Modi effect’.
“Even though Modi is not a candidate here, it’s about making the party base strong,” he said.
He said local Congress candidate Barkha Singh will be affected by the Delhi gangrape case and its fallout because she did nothing about the issue at all.
So would voters prefer? Anyone who could reduce their bijli (electricity) bills by 30 percent, he said.
So what about AAP’s Shazia Ilmi? Pointless to vote for, he said. However, another voter who left after voting denied his claims and said that voters biggest worry in the area was not safety. It was about getting jobs, she said.
Meanwhile, Shazia Ilmi managed to vote quickly despite the fact that others had been waiting for close to an hour.
“I said I am the candidate and they said come, come vote,” she said.
The AAP candidate said she had never thought the distribution of alcohol and money would be as rampant as it is during this poll.
“I have seen it being passed around with my own eyes. Its like bandar ki naach (dance of the monkeys),” she said.
“I feel it’s not my test. Its the test for the people of Delhi. I have done my best,” Ilmi said.
Then she hugged a voter, told another to go vote, did a namaskar to a third voter and marched off.


3:00 pm: Voter turnout 48 percent till 3 pm
HT reports that the voter turnout has spiked to 48 percent till 3 pm.


2.30 pm: 39 percent voting at 2 pm.
Delhi has seen 39 percent voting at 2 pm, say reports.
The New Delhi constituency, easily the most watched battleground with chief minister Sheila Dikshit and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal locked in a face-off, has seen higher voting, almost 42 percent, till 2 pm, said reports.


1:35 pm: Residents of colony complain their names not on list
A group of residents of G-point Kalibari basti protested out the AAP headquarters alleging that their colony consisting of around 7,000 residents were not on the election rolls.
“Only 10 or 12 could vote,” Bhullar Singh Pasi, a resident of the colony, told Firstpost‘s Sandip Roy.
Pasi believes the Congress is angry with them because they are being relocated to Paharganj but have filed a case in court.
“These people say they want to remove poverty but they are removing the poor,” grumbled another resident Kesha Ram.
The residents alleged that the election commission was at the booth while they were complaining and said that they should be allowed to vote. However, after the official left the police allegedly told them to get lost.
Another resident Ram Kali said that she works as a labourer and carries loads on her head to earn between Rs 5,000 to 6,000 a month.
“Mazdoori chhodke vote deney aayi par woh bhi nahin hua (Leaving work we had gone to vote but had to return unsuccessfully),” she said showing her voter id card.


1:20 pm: Voter turnout at 34 percent at 1 pm
CNN-IBN reports that the voter turnout at 1 pm is 34 percent.
HT reports that the turnout in Chhatarpur, Mahipalpur and Bijwasan seats is approximately 30 percent.
Can Delhi break its own record?


1:15 pm: Living next to AAP office, 88-year-old not so sure about AAP’s fortunes
Octagenarian Surinder Sikand was among those who went to the polling booth assisted by an attendant.
The 88-year-old Delhi resident said that she lives next to the AAP office and likes the excitement that comes with being there but said it was a little too much when the sting operation was conducted on the party.
“There were so many tv trucks… Neighbors could not even walk on the street and their own cars could not get through,” she said.
Sikand said that barring that once instance the AAP have been good neighbours to have.
So why is she going to vote?
“Why should I hold my vote back?” she countered.
However, she isn’t too certain about her neighbour’s fortunes in this poll.
“Not sure if Kejriwal can succeed. Jiski bhains uski laathi,” she said.



12:50 pm: Voters complain of not finding names on electoral rolls
There were some reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVM) in some parts of the city but they were rectified, election officials said. The EVM at polling booth in Aurangazeb Lane, where Rahul Gandhi cast his vote, malfunctioned when polling began.

In Jungpura, Badli and Krishna Nagar constituencies, some voters complained that their names have been struck from the electoral rolls and they could not vote.

Many people also took to Twitter to complain about the fact that the couldn’t find their names on the electoral rolls.

  Swapan Dasgupta @swapan55 Follow

Seems deletion of legit voters happened during preparation of final rolls last month. Method behind this arbit step? Middle class affected

Rajesh Kalra @rajeshkalra

Follow

Sent by our @NBTDilli reporter. A voter on crutches who couldn't vote as his name was missing from rolls

Nikhil Pahwa @nixxin Follow

Went to vote, but for first time ever, my name was not on the rolls. Everyone in my family, neighbors on the list, not me. #Disenfranchised

The Election Commission has appealed to people not to carry mobile phones while going to cast their votes, reported PTI.



12:20 pm: Man refuses Kejriwal’s offer to go to vote, finally ends up unable to vote
For some the voting experience was anything but smooth. Take the case of Dheeraj Gupta who lives across the street from the AAP office near Connaught Place.
He told Firstpost‘s Sandip Roy that he had gone to the polling booth but found his name was not on the voters list. He had gone with a passport and an Aadhar card to the booth but was turned away.
Gupta said he had lived there for the last seven years and had voted at the same polling booth earlier which made the exclusion of his name inexplicable.
His wife maintained that he should have gone with AAP’s convenor Arvind Kejriwal when he had gone to cast his vote.
“Yes, Mr Kejriwal asked in the morning ‘Dheeraj are you coming to vote’ but I was not ready,” he said.
“I am very disappointed,” he said.
“I wanted to vote for change. There is no scope for provisional vote.I was just told ‘Sorry you cannot vote this year’,” he glumly said.
“I guess now I just have a free holiday,” he said.



12:00 pm: For some, Delhi polls a great opportunity to get some attention
For some like the BJP’s Ram Lal today made the most of the media attention that was focussed on the Nirman Bhavan polling booth where Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit were to vote.
“He has probably never had so much attention,” remarked a reporter sarcastically.
However, Lal was undeterred by sarcasm and instead spoke about a historic turnout and a mandate for change that was proved by long lines.
Not all were convinced by his spiel though.
“Jhooth (lies)….How can anyone know already?” asked Ashok Randhawa from Kidwai nagar.

11:50 am: Some more pictures of political leaders who have voted

ANI @ANI_news

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Delhi Assembly Polls: Kapil Sibal casts his vote

11:44 AM - 4 Dec 2013

11:45 am: 86-year-old who votes despite no wheelchair to get her to booth
Not voted yet? Feeling lazy? Take some inspiration from 86-year-old Rukmani Devi who turned up to vote being carried in a chair by her grandsons.
Sitting in a blue chair that was carried by her grandsons, Devi said that she has been voting all her life. And why was she in a chair? Because there’s no wheelchair in a booth.
Devi, who is unable to hear anymore, told Firstpost’s Sandip Roy the reason she still came to a booth to vote despite the inconvenience.
“I don’t want my vote going to waste,” she said.



11:30 am: Voter turnout estimated at 17 percent at 11 am
CNN-IBN reports that the voter turnout at the Delhi elections is currently estimated at 17 percent until 11 am.
The voter turnout seems to have slowed since early morning but can still pick up as there’s plenty of time.



11:10 am: Didn’t resort to negative campaigning, says Harsh Vardhan
Firstpost’s Soumik Mukherjee reports that Harsh Vardhan is now travelling across constituencies and remains optimistic about his parties chances in the elections. He believes what will work for the party is that they haven’t used negative campaigning.
“Right before the election our plan was to do as much positive campaigning as possible,” he told Firstpost.
“Sheila Dikshit has been a failure. We did not need to project that anymore. But we want to reach out to people through our work and not by the means of negative campaigning,” he said.



11:05 am: BJP has no star in Delhi, says Dikshit
Caught by Times Now while headed for a meeting, the Delhi Chief minister was uncharacteristically short with her replies but did not miss the opportunity to take a crack at her opponents.
When asked again about the influence of Modi on the elections, she retorted,”Modi is a star campaigner for BJP as they don’t have a star in Delhi.”



11:00 am: Rahul Gandhi casts vote, says Modi has no bearing on polls
After a wait in the queue, Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi finally cast his vote and said that he hoped other Delhi voters would also cast their vote in favour of Sheila Dikshit.
And then one reporter asked whether Modi would be a factor. “No ,” said the Congress Vice President, did a quick about turn and departed.



10.32 am: Modi has no bearing on Delhi elections, says Dikshit
Describing the election as a ‘tight race’ between the Congress and the BJP Dikshit said Delhi would recognise her government’s work and vote for development.
Taking on the BJP, Dikshit said, “Communalism has never spread in Delhi and from the language being used by the BJP, it seems they promoting communalism.”
Reacting to reporters on the “Modi effect”, Dikshit “Modi has no bearing on Delhi elections. When Parliamentary elections take place, we’ll see.”
Dikshit and Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived the Nirman bhawan polling booth around the same time. Gandhi left without speaking to the press.




10.08 am: Sheila Dikshit, Sonia turn up together to vote, avoid awkward meeting with Maneka Gandhi
It might have been a photographer’s delight if Sonia and Maneka Gandhi were to be seen together. Instead Sonia Gandhi turned up with Sheila Dikshit to stand in the line to cast their vote.
Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stood in the line and even initially refused to break the line but the officials present at the booth prevailed and they were rushed in to cast their votes. But not before some curious voters managed to get a few snaps.
The BJP’s Maneka Gandhi also turned up to vote and stood in line patiently to cast her vote.



9.51 am: What’s trending on Twitter?
On the day of polls in Delhi, Twitter trends for India as expected are mainly to do with it.
#AAPSweepingDelhi, #Vote4Sheila, #DelhiVote, #SheilaFirSe and #bjp are trending on Twitter presently.



9.48 am: Only one constituency in Delhi using new vote verification audit system, guess which one?
Firstpost’s Pallavi Polanki reports that the New Delhi constituency in Delhi is the only one in which the Election Commission is using the vote verification audit system. And thats in the New Delhi constituency where Arvind Kejriwal and Sheila Dikshit are in the fray.
According to officers on election duty officer that FP spoke to New Delhi is the only constituency in Delhi to have EVMs fitted with VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) that allows voters to get a visual confirmation of who they voted for.
“It is like in the ATM machines, there is small screen that shows the symbol we voted for. A paper slip gets printed and it falls off the machine,” said an early morning voter N P Mahanto, a business man, explaining his experience of using the VVPAT.



9.37 am: Dikshit steps out to vote, hopes Delhi will vote for the development of capital by her govt
Contesting for a fourth term as Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit seemed pretty calm as she stepped out to the Nirman Bhavan voting station to cast her ballot.
“I appeal to the people to come out and vote,” she told reporters
So why is she hopeful of getting votes from the Delhi voters?
“Development and consistent development is something we have achieved and it has been inclusive as well,” she pointed out.
The Chief Minister also claimed that she was not at all worried about her opponents. And she also dismissed the allegations made by them against her government.
“There are a lot of allegations of corruption which have been raised that are completely false,” she said.
She admitted she didn’t really know which way the voters would go in this elections.
“Voters have been very quiet,” she said, expressing hope that people would vote for them.



9.12 am: Sheila Dikshit, Sonia to cast their votes soon
Firstpost’s Pallavi Polanki reports that a slow stream of voters has begun to trickle into the high profile polling booth of Nirman Bhavan where both Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will cast their vote in about half an hour.



9.09 am: Harsh Vardhan casts vote, tells Delhi to beat Chhattisgarh’s voter turnout
“I appeal to the youth and everyone in Delhi to caste their vote,” Harsh Vardhan says.
He pointed out that given the high voter turnout even in tribal belts of Chhattisgarh was higher than expected, the people of Delhi should beat the turnout there.
And he also said that the BJP was way ahead of its competitors.



8.35 am: Chief Electoral Officer hopes for new record
Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev says he thinks youth vote will set new record and urban voter apathy tag will be demystified, reports Firstpost’s Sandip Roy.
Let’s hope he’s proven right. But in the event he is, will it benefit the AAP, Congress or BJP the most?



8.32 am: And Kejriwal is done casting his vote
Firstpost’s Sandip Roy reports that Kejriwal after voting has said that he is going to do vipasana now and has urged people to keep upvaas till they vote.
However, despite his strong words the AAP leader is not in the best of spirits and keeps coughing. Some rest may be in order for the AAP leader now.



8.11 am: Kejriwal’s out bright and early to cast his vote
If he’s worried about these elections it definitely doesn’t show on Arvind Kejriwal’s face as he heads to cast his vote early this morning the at Hanuman Road polling booth.
Speaking to CNN-IBN, the AAP party convenor said that he hoped people would turn up in numbers to cast their vote.
“This time the people of Delhi should come out to vote against corruption,” Kejriwal said.
When asked what would happen in the event that the results were not upto his expectations, Kejriwal countered,” What if they are?”
Kejriwal’s out bright and early to cast his vote
“Let’s wait for 8 December, then we’ll know whether the results are up to my expectation or not,” he said.



7.50 am: Here’s why these elections are bound to be different
Firstpost’s Dhiraj Nayyar says that in the national capital that traditionally witnessed two party races, the experience will be a different one this time around:
The rise of Kejriwal and Harsh Vardhan seems to have deflated the Sheila Dikshit campaign. After 15 years of supremacy, Aunty Sheila looks defeated before the first vote is cast. She need not be despondent. Congress may have a long shot in a triangular contest, particularly if the anti-incumbency vote is split between AAP and BJP.
No party or Chief Ministerial candidate in this exciting race is perfect. But we have to choose. So, who’s it going to be — Sheila, Harsh Vardhan or Arvind? Read more here.



7.08 am: Expect a high turnout
Turnout may not be spectacular this early in the morning given how cold it is but expect voters to queue up outside booths soon enough. If the turnout at the other elections is anything to go by, we could see a high turnout in Delhi as well.


Moment of truth for Congress, AAP, BJP
After months of campaigning, mud-slinging, sting operations and hype, Delhi’s voters will finally go to the polling booths to choose a new government and chief minister. The polls, which are expected to be a closely contested three way race between AAP, BJP and Congress are significant for a number of reasons.


Firstly, there is the anti-incumbency sentiment. Will Delhi throw out three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in favour of Kejriwal or the BJP? This is probably the most awaited verdict, as it will give all political parties a sense of which way the sentiment towards the Congress and UPA is swinging. If Dikshit loses, especially in her home constituency of New Delhi, the Congress will be in deep deep trouble in 2014. If she wins on the other hand and is able to scrape through a majority for the Congress, the UPA will feel that 2014 will not be such a hard task after all.
Second, there is the Kejriwal factor. Will the one-year-old AAP fare as well as has been predicted by various exit polls? The expectations are already high. AAP itself has contributed to the unrelenting pressure, by releasing an internal survey that not only positioned Kejriwal as the most popular CM candidate, but also saw the party winning between 38 and 50 seats. The question is if it can deliver on the ground.


For the BJP, the stakes are more about 2014 than anything else. Its performance in these elections are expected to be significant bellwethers, both in terms of a 2014 strategy, and on whether Modi’s highly attended Delhi rallies had any impact on the ground. Harsh Vardhan has been largely considered the underdog in terms of CM candidates, but the BJP is in all probability, banking on strong anti-Congress elections to see them through.
Voting begins at 7am. It will be interesting to see what voter turnout is in the state. All the other four states that went to polls have registered extremely high turnout so far. Will Delhi, with its high urban population follow suit, or fall victim to voter apathy?

About Hemant Verma

Adds a short author bio after every single post on your blog. Also, It's mainly a matter of keeping lists of possible information, and then figuring out what is relevant to a particular editor's needs.