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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promised a ‘positive’ campaign based on substantive work as the Election Commission on Monday announced the dates for Assembly polls in the Capital city.
Election to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will take place on February 8 and results will be declared on February 11, said the Election Commission.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had swept Delhi in the elections held in 2015, cornering 67 of the 70 seats in the Capital. After a tumultuous tenure marked by clashes with the BJP-led Centre, the Delhi Chief Minister has adopted a low profile of late, choosing to focus on issues such as education and health and refusing to be engaged deeply in the ongoing protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
He asserted that AAP will be able to persuade even the staunch supporters of the BJP and the Congress to vote for him in Delhi because “our work speaks for itself”.
No hate speech
“We will ask for votes from BJP supporters as well as Congress supporters. We will go door-to-door and urge supporters of the Congress and the BJP to vote for us,” he said. Kejriwal said the AAP will run a “positive campaign” and not abuse anyone.
“All Amit Shah-ji (Home Minister) did in his speech recently was abuse me. I will not indulge in anything like that. We will not abuse anyone. In 70 years, for the first time, people will vote on schools and hospitals. Our whole campaign will be positive,” he added.
According to the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, the notification for the polls will be issued on January 14, while the last date of withdrawal of candidature will be January 24.
Over 1.46 crore voters can exercise their franchise in the February 8 Assembly election in Delhi, according to the final electoral roll published on Monday.
PTI adds
1.46 cr voters on final electoral roll
Over 1.46 crore voters can exercise their franchise in the election, according to the final electoral roll published on Monday.
Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh said there are a total of 1,46,92,136 voters -- 80,55,686 males, 66,35,635 females and 815 belonging to the third gender -- in the final voters’ list.
Singh said all voters will be provided QR code-enabled voters’ slips for easy identification.
The CEO said there are over 11.55 lakh voters in Delhi who come under the ‘ASD’ (absent, shifted, deceased) list and added that there were no instructions regarding registration of refugees covered under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the electoral roll this time.
Despite publication of the final electoral roll (up to January 1, 2020), any eligible person can apply for registration as a voter till the last date of nomination of the Assembly polls, he said in a press conference.
“The special summary revision of the voters’ list was conducted in September-October last year. The draft of the voters’ list was published on November 15, objections were invited till December 26, and the final voters' list is being published now,” Singh said.
As compared to the final voters' list in 2019, the number of voters in Delhi has increased by 9.96 lakh in the final roll of 2020 (up to January 1), he said.
The number of voters in the final roll of 2020 has increased by 1,87,000, as compared to the draft roll published on November 15, 2019, he said.
“There were deletions of 60,848 names and addition of 2,47,950 in the draft electoral roll, resulting in net addition of around 1,87,000 voters,” the Chief Electoral Officer said.
The number of voters in various categories includes overseas voters (489), service voters (11,556), voters in the 18-19 age group (2,08,883), those aged above 80 years (2,05,035), and the specially challenged (55,823).
Singh said no complaints regarding “irregularities” in deletion or addition of names in the draft voters’ list had been received from any political party or any other quarter.
Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, AAP had alleged deletion of names of voters belonging to various communities at the behest of the BJP.
Singh said political parties will be provided copies of the final electoral roll. It will also be available on the CEO's website.
As compared to the numbers in the Lok Sabha polls, the number of voters in the final voters' list has increased by over three lakh.
There are 13,750 polling booths located at 2,689 locations across Delhi.
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