68 model and pink polling stations set up ahead of Delhi civic polls

Sixty-eight model polling stations and as many pink polling stations have been established for quality experience of voters on the day of the civic polls in Delhi, officials said on Friday.

Polling for the municipal elections in Delhi will be held on December 4 and the votes will be counted on December 7, State Election Commissioner Vijay Dev announced on Friday, setting the stage for the high-stakes civic polls largely seen as a three-way contest between the BJP, the AAP and the Congress.

This will be the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise, and the much-awaited poll will be held in the gap between the two phases of the Gujarat assembly elections -- on December 1 and 5.

According to the data shared by the State Election Commission on November 4, the total number of voters in Delhi is over 1.46 crore. There are 250 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

"A large workforce of election functionaries and security agencies have put humongous efforts to make necessary preparations for conducting elections at 13,638 polling stations spread across Delhi," the SEC, Delhi said in a statement.

And, 68 model polling stations and as many pink polling stations have been established for quality experience of voters, it said.

At pink polling stations, all staff are women.

Adequate arrangements for deployment of forces has been done, officials said.

For the MCD polls, "nearly 40,000 Delhi Police personnel, about 20,000 home guards and 108 companies of CAPF and SAP are to be deployed," a senior police official said.

The Commission said it has made elaborate arrangements for safe, secure and pleasant voting experience of people. These measures are required to keep the electoral field free and to ensure that a level playing field is afforded to all political parties and candidates, it added.

The high-decibel campaigning for the elections, which saw roadshows of AAP and BJP heavyweights criss-cross through the national capital amid a political slugfest, concluded on Friday evening.