Over to voters: High-decibel campaign for Delhi election ends

Campaigning for the most hotly contested Assembly election in Delhi ever ended at 5 p.m. on Monday, drawing curtains on months-long, high-decibel electioneering replete with AI-generated memes, acerbic jibes and venomous barbs and a race to woo voters with freebies, including monthly doles to women and the youth.

The ruling AAP and rival BJP and the Congress engaged their star campaigners liberally with the pack being led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet Minister Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann and Chief Ministers of other BJP and Congress-ruled states.

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh and filmstar Shatrughan Sinha added star power to the AAP’s campaign.

Cash assistance for women, heated exchanges over alleged corruption revolving around liquor scam and ‘Sheesh Mahal’, joblessness, water supply and sewers, toxic air, polluted Yamuna and free health insurance dominated the discourse.

At the peak of the campaign, the campaign turned into a direct fight between ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, ‘Kejriwal ki Guarantee’ and ‘Congress ki Guarantee, with all three parties offering freebies to woo voters.

The ruling AAP and rival BJP and Congress also locked horns on several occasions over issues of alleged poll code violation, deletion of voters’ names, suspected Bangladeshis enrolled as voters and attempts to influence voters using lies and wrong information.

The hot seats of New Delhi of AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Kalkaji seat of Chief Minister Atishi attracted special attention all through the campaign.

The fiercely campaign for the February 5 Assembly election has been defined by an unprecedented use of AI-generated spoofs and memes, sharp political jibes, and high-decibel roadshows.

The tech-driven campaign was supplemented by conventional methods like padyatra, corner meetings, handouts, newspaper ads, recorded phone calls by Kejriwal to voters and personal letters sent by Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva to voters.

On the final day of campaigning, the BJP organised 22 roadshows and rallies across Delhi while PM Modi issued a video on his interaction with students, as the party looked to end the AAP’s run of three successive electoral wins since 2013.

Similarly, the AAP’s last day dash saw Kejriwal holding public meetings in the Chhatarpur and Kalkaji Assembly constituencies and issuing videos alleging attempts to manipulate EVMs.

Throughout the campaign, the ruling AAP raised issues of poll code violation, alleged EC bias in favour of the BJP and wooed voters by showcasing its development model and offering 15 guarantees, including monthly financial assistance for women and others.

The ruling party also remained confident of securing a fourth straight term, banking on its governance model of free welfare schemes and blunting the rivals’ allegations of corruption and misgovernance.

The Congress, which ruled the capital for 15 years between 1998 and 2013, appeared energised, with a segment of Muslim voters showing faith in it in the recent civic elections.

On Monday, the Delhi election office imposed a prohibition on the display to the public of any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus and holding public meetings during a period of “48 hours ending with hour fixed for conclusion of poll during the General Election to Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi-2025."

All eyes on voting day will be on the voting turnout with the election department desperately trying to get more voters to polling booths.

The turnout in the 2020 Delhi Assembly election stood at 62.82 per cent, 4.65 per cent lower than 67.47 per cent in 2015. In 2013, the turnout was 66.02 per cent, 8.42 per cent higher than 2008’s 57.6 per cent.

Voting to pick a new 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5 and the result will be declared on February 8. In the outgoing House, the AAP has 62 candidates and the BJP has eight.

According to the data of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), 1.56 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots across 13,766 polling stations. Among the total voters, 83.76 lakh are men, 72.36 lakh are women, and 1,267 are third-gender voters.

There are 699 candidates in the fray as compared to 672 in the 2020 poll.

The Election Commission has also introduced a Queue Management System (QMS) application for the first time in India, allowing voters to check real-time crowd levels at polling stations through the Delhi Election - 2025 QMS app.

Under the home voting facility for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, nearly 7,000 eligible voters cast their votes even before the pressing of the first EVM button on polling day.