Delhi registers record turnout of 65.13% in Assembly polls

Among the nine districts, the highest turnout of over 68% was recorded in North-East

Breaking all records, Delhi registered the highest-ever voter turnout of 65.13% in the keenly contested Assembly polls with men and women coming out in almost equal numbers to exercise their franchise, Delhi's Election Commission said today.

In 2008 Assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 57.58 while in 1993, it was 61.75%. Out of 1.19 crore eligible voters, over 77.7 lakh people exercised their franchise yesterday. The number of first-time eligible voters is 4.05 lakh.

Creating history, 65.48% men and 64.68 women cast their ballot in the three-cornered contest among Congress, BJP and debutant Aam Aadmi Party.

The highest turnout was recorded in the Seemapuri seat (72.19 per cent), while the lowest polling was in Ballimaran with 56.20 per cent.

Among the nine districts, the highest turnout of over 68 per cent was recorded in North-East.

In an unprecedented exercise, voting went on till 9.30 PM --four-and-a-half hours past the 5 PM voting deadline--when the last ballot was cast by waiting voters in a booth in Okhla Assembly segment.

The stunning voter turnout that shattered the previous highest of 61.75 per cent in the first elections to the state Assembly in 1993 saw voting hours being extended in several polling booths beyond the closing time of 5 PM as around 1.7 lakh voters were still waiting in winding queues.

Elaborate security arrangements were made in the capital with deployment of 32,801 personnel of the Delhi Police and 11,000 home guards, besides 10,700 central paramilitary force personnel to conduct peaceful election.

A total of 810 candidates are in the fray. Counting of votes is scheduled to take place on December 8.