Delhi civic polls: Around 40 pc polling recorded till 3 PM

New Delhi, Apr 15: Moderate polling was witnessed in the Delhi municipal elections, the first for the trifurcated civic body, today with around 40 per cent of the 1.15 crore electorate exercising its franchise till late afternoon.

There were reports of delay in the start of voting at a few places due to malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) while some people, including Congress Rajya Sabha member Pervez Hashmi, complained about not finding their names in the electoral rolls.

No report of any untoward incident was received till 3 PM though two persons were detained in west Delhi's Rajouri Garden area for alleged bogus voting. There was some tension near a polling station in Janakpuri after police prevented some people from gathering near it but the issue was sorted out.

"Around 40 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise till three PM," a State Election Commission official said. In the 2007 municipal polls, 42.78 per cent of the around 99 lakh voters had exercised their franchise.

Some people complained that they were not allowed inside polling booths because they did not possess the 'letter' from the State Election Commission.

The fate of 2,423 candidates would be sealed in the polling being held for 272 wards of the three civic bodies -- East, South and North -- carved out of the existing Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Counting of votes will take place on Tuesday.

As many as 83,000 policemen were keeping a tight vigil across the capital where polling began at 8 AM. 77,000 officials are conducting the elections in over 11,543 voting stations.

PTI