Delhi set for high-stakes MCD polls

The stage is set for the highstakes civic polls in Delhi today with poll authorities and security forces all geared up for the elections largely being seen as a threeway contest among the AAP the BJP and the CongressOver 145 crore electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to the 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in which 1349 candidates are in the fray Polling will be held from 8 am to 530 pm and the votes will be counted on December 7According to data shared by the State Election Commission officials the total number of voters in Delhi is 14505358mdash7893418 males 6610879 females and 1061 transgender persons There are 250 wards in MCD This will be the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise and the poll will be held days after the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections and a day ahead of its second phase Authorities have set up 13638 polling stations across Delhi for the exerciseAlso read Mumbai Hawker licences will have to wait until new policyBoth the AAP and the BJP have exuded confidence that they will emerge victorious in the polls while the Congress is seeking to regain lost turf The highdecibel campaigning for the December 4 polls which saw roadshows of AAP and BJP heavyweights crisscross through the national capital amid a political slugfest concluded on FridayGiving campaigns of their parties one final push on Friday BJP leaders held over 200 public meetings and roadshows while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia held a town hall with 400 traders to discuss issues faced by them while dealing with the civic bodyThis is also the first civic polls being held in the national capital after the February 2020 riots in Delhi and as per data shared by officials 3360 booths spanning 493 locations have been identified in sensitive categories To ensure hasslefree civic polls on December 4 the Delhi Police will deploy 40000 security personnel at every nook and corner of the national capital ldquoA total of 20000 security personnel of home guards have also been asked from the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan and Haryana for the election dutyrdquo said an officialSisodia lsquoBJP turned Delhi into garbage moundrsquoAhead of polls in Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday slammed the BJP for turning the national capital into a lsquorsquomound of garbagersquorsquo ldquoThe BJP was in power in MCD for 15 years and it turned Delhi into a capital of garbage mounds and stray animals This time people will choose Arvind Kejriwal for MCD to make Delhi clean and beautifulrdquo he claimed1349No of candidates running in the MCD polls in DelhiThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever