Delhi assembly polls: Over 56 percent voting till 4 p.m.

Over 56 percent voters had on Wednesday exercised their franchise till 4 p.m. for choosing candidates for the 70-member Delhi State Assembly.

According to Delhi Election office, around 48 percent voters had cast their ballots till 3 p.m.

The voting began at 8 a.m. at 11,753 polling booths out of which 630 have been identified as critical and hyper critical.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP's chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan were

among the early voters.

A total of 1.19 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, out of which 66.11 lakh are men and 53.20 lakh are women. The number of first time voters is 4.05 lakh.

For the first time, the None of the Above, NOTA option is available to voters in the EVMs who do not find any of candidates suitable.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair polls.

Intense vigil is being maintained to keep an eye on the misuse of money and muscle power in vulnerable areas, such as slum clusters and unauthorized colonies. Efforts have also been made to keep check on people coming to Delhi from Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon, who may cast bogus votes during the polls.

About 64,000 police personnel and 107 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure a smooth conduct of the polls.

The Congress, BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party are the main parties to form the next government in the state.

While BJP has fielded candidates in 66 constituencies, Congress and AAP are contesting from all 70 seats. BSP, which was the third largest party in last Assembly election, has fielded candidates at 69 seats,NCP in nine and Samajwadi Party at 27 seats.