Delhi gears up for counting; AAP confident, BJP says exit polls will fall flat

NEW DELHI: Counting of votes polled in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly elections is set to take place on Tuesday, with exit polls predicting a big win for the ruling AAP even as BJP leaders maintained that the surveys will fall flat.

Strong rooms spread across the city storing the EVMs are being heavily guarded, with a “three-layer security ring”, Delhi CEO Ranbir Singh told PTI.

“We are all geared up for the counting tomorrow and elaborate security arrangements have been put in place. The exercise will be carried out as per the laid-down procedures of the Election Commission,” he said.

The election, largely seen as a battle between the AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which went aggressive during the high-octane campaign was held on Saturday, sealing the fate of 672 candidates — 593 men and 79 women.

Nearly 24 hours after the polling ended in Delhi, the Election Commission on Sunday announced that the final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, five per cent less than 2015, and asserted that it followed the laid down process to compile data, after the AAP questioned the “delay”.

The Delhi CEO said the counting will begin at 8 am sharp and will be held in multiple rounds.

“The postal ballots will be counted first till 8.30 am and then the votes cast through EVMs will be counted,” he said.

“The CUs (controls units) of the EVMs will be transported tomorrow morning to the counting centres before the beginning of the exercise. The centres are spread across 21 locations, spanning the 70 constituencies. Each centre will have several counting halls, equal to the number of constituencies falling in that district,” Singh said.