MCD bypolls see 31.3 per cent voter turnout, votes to be counted on Dec 3
New Delhi (PTI): Voter turnout in the MCD bypolls to 12 wards on Sunday remained subdued, with the overall polling recorded at 31.3 per cent till 4 pm, according to the State Election Commission.
The voting began at 7.30 am and ended at 5.30 pm.
Among the 12 wards where polling was held, Chandni Mahal recorded the highest turnout at 41.95 per cent.
It was followed by Sangam Vihar-A with 38.62 per cent and Mundka with 37.82 per cent voter participation.
Greater Kailash registered the lowest turnout at just 20.87 per cent, while Dwarka-B recorded 23.72 per cent polling. Chandni Chowk saw 27.91 per cent turnout, Ashok Vihar 28.13 per cent and Shalimar Bagh-B 28.28 per cent.
The votes will be counted on December 3. The results are expected to reveal the mood of voters in the national capital after the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) comprehensive victory in the Assembly elections in February this year.
The State Election Commission has set up 580 polling booths across 143 locations for the 12 bypolls. A total of 2,320 election commission personnel, 580 home guards and 2,265 other personnel, along with 13 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces are facilitating the electoral exercise.
The fate of 51 candidates, including 26 women, will be decided at the ballot. The BJP has fielded eight women candidates, the highest. This was followed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with six women candidates and Congress five.
The election is being closely observed as the AAP and the BJP will take on each other again after the Assembly polls. The BJP won 48 out of the 70 seats in the Assembly elections and returned to power in Delhi after 27 years, ousting the AAP.
Of the 12 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) wards, nine were earlier held by the BJP and three by the AAP.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
