MCD polls 2017: Acid test for BJP, AAP, Cong.

Polling for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will start today at 8 a.m. and will carry on till 5.30 p.m.

Considered largely to be the decider as far as the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) fate in Delhi is concerned, the polling will be conducted for 272 wards of three MCD civic bodies and over 2,500 candidates are in the fray.

The Delhi Election Commission has set up over 13,000 polling booths, out of which over 3,000 have been identified as sensitive while around 1,500 as hypersensitive.

Nearly 57, 000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure free and fair polls in the national capital.

To avoid any untoward incident during the elections, the Delhi Government has ordered dry day to be observed in the national capital on the polling day.

For the first time in the MCD elections, the None Of The Above (NOTA) option will be available and the elections will be held after the latest delimitation exercise that has restructured the civic wards.

Even as the Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India and the Janata Dal (United) look to expand base beyond Bihar and Jharkhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP and the Congress have roped in top leaders and done whatever they could to woo the voters.