Delhi Assembly election will be held on February 5, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Tuesday. The poll will be held in a single phase for the 70 assembly seats and counting for the same will be held on February 8.
CEC Kumar said that the date has been specifically chosen in the middle of the week (Wednesday) to avoid urban apathy.
During the press conference, which will likely be the last one before his tenure ends, Kumar addresses issues levelled by the Opposition regarding the conduction of elections.
In December, AAP claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party has been manipulating the electoral rolls by deleting voters from the list.
“I am coming to some serious issues… In 2024, some apprehensions and doubts were raised. It was said that there were wrongful additions and deletions in electoral rolls… this started recently after the general elections is currently going on in Delhi. It was also said that certain groups are targeted and the names of voters are removed,” the CEC said adding that the polling body carries out lengthy procedures before removing names of voters from the electoral rolls and hence random deletions are not possible.
Meanwhile, the authenticity of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) has resurfaced during the campaigning for the Delhi Assembly elections. Addressing this, Kumar said, “There is no evidence of unreliability or any drawback in the EVM… There is no question of introducing a virus or bug in the EVM. There is no question of invalid votes in the EVM. No rigging is possible. High Courts and the Supreme Court are continuously saying this in different judgments… What else can be said? EVMs are foolproof devices for counting. Allegations of tempering are baseless. We are speaking now because we don’t speak when elections are on.”
The stage is set for a three-way fight between Aam Aadmi Party, BJP and Congress in the national capital with the Arvind Kejriwal-led government seeking a third consecutive term.
While AAP has released all the lists of candidates for the Delhi Assembly election, Congress has declared 48 out of 70 candidates and BJP has announced the first list with 29 candidates.
The lists feature prominent names including BJP’s Parvesh Verma, who is set to contest against former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency, and Ramesh Bidhuri, who will challenge Chief Minister Atishi in Kalkaji.
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Delhi to vote on February 5 in assembly election, EC announces schedule for 3-way fight
