Delhi parties blame heat for lower voter turnout

As the national capital on Sunday witnessed a less voter turnout by about five per cent than in 2014, Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and BJP blamed the heat and high temperature for the low voter percentage.

While the BJP and Congress are confident that their voters have stepped out to vote, the AAP says the turnout may impact its vote share.

BJP's Harish Khurana said his party is winning all the seats.

"The temperature was too high. So the percentage was low... Our dedicated voters stepped out and voted for us. It will benefit the BJP as our cadre has," he said.

On all the seven seats in Delhi, which went to the polls on Sunday, there is a triangular contest among Congress, AAP and BJP.

A Congress leader said the Congress voters have stepped out to vote.

"The BJP voters stayed back because they were angry with the party. Our voters stepped out and voted," the leader said.

In 2014, when the city went to the polls on April 12, the maximum temperature was 35.6 degrees Celsius. On Sunday the maximum temperature was 38 degrees Celsius.

On Sunday, the voter turnout was 60 per cent, while that in 2014 was 65 per cent.

While AAP leader Gopal Rai blamed heat for the low turnout, party's spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said the temperature was almost the same as the last year.

"This is a time when people go to home for a break. This was a major reason that the turnout was low. Ramzan was also a reason," Rai said.

Rai said that with people going homes, "the voters of AAP as well as other parties will be impacted".

"Another major reason was deletion of voters' names. This too discourage the voters," Bhardwaj said.

He said that among those deleted, "most were from the areas where AAP has its vote share".

--IANS

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