Delhi polls: Some facts from the past

As 11.9 million voters cast their ballots to choose the fifth assembly of Delhi on Wednesday, a brief look at past polls:

In 1952, Delhi was a C class state whose first Chief Minister was Brahm Prakash from the Congress. It was Gurmukh Nihal who succeeded him in 1955. In 1956, the assembly system was abolished and replaced by the Delhi Metropolitan Council in 1966.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the first assembly elections in Delhi in 1993 after Delhi became a state.

In 1993, the BJP swept the polls with 49 seats. The Congress won 14 seats while the remaining three were bagged by three independent candidates. A total of 61.75 percent of the electorate voted for 70 seats. Madan Lal Khurana became the chief minister. In its five-year tenure, the party saw three chief ministers, the other two being Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.

It was Congress' turn in 1998 when it trounced the incumbent party by winning a whopping 52 seats in the 70-member assembly. The party chose Sheila Dikshit as Delhi's chief minister. The BJP was reduced to 15 seats, the Janata Dal won one seat while independent candidates bagged two seats. The BJP has not been able to wrest power since then.

In 2003, the BJP raised its tally to 20 from 15 seats but it was Congress which formed the government once again under the leadership of Dikshit who became the chief minister again. A total of 53.42 percentage of voters cast their ballots.

In 2008, the BJP was whipped for the third time in a row by the Congress and Sheila Dikshit became the first three-time woman chief minister in India. The Congress bagged 43 seats while the BJP stood second with 23. A total of 57.58 percent polling was recorded.