Delhi Assembly polls: Voting underway across 70 constituencies, PM Modi urges voters to participate in 'festival of democracy'

Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm in the evening.

Over 13 thousand seven hundred polling booths have been set up across the 70 assembly constituencies in the national capital, witnessing a triangular battle between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress.

According to reports, the Election Commission has deployed more than one lakh and eighty thousand polling personnel to ensure polling is conducted smoothly.

To ensure real-time crowds at booths,  a Queue Management System (QMS) app has been introduced.

At least 220 companies of paramilitary forces, 35,626 Delhi Police personnel, and 19,000 home guards have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting in the national capital which the AAP-led government has ruled for the past two terms.

PM urges people to participate in the festival of democracy

Indian PM Narendra Modi posted on X his statement where he urged people to vote and participate in the 'festival of democracy'.

"Voting for all the seats in the Delhi Assembly elections will be held today," he said.

"I urge the voters here to participate in this festival of democracy with full enthusiasm and cast their valuable vote," he said.

"On this occasion, my special wishes to all the young friends who are going to vote for the first time. Remember - first vote, then refreshment!" Modi said.

Three-way battle

The AAP is eyeing to return to Delhi for the third time with BJP and the Congress putting up a strong show against the political outfit.

Delhi CM Atishi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal have been leading the campaign in the national capital.

Kejriwal, who was arrested in connection with a liquor scam, was released on bail last year.

Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders targeted Kejriwal and AAP over alleged corruption charges and the renovation of the Chief Minister's residence.

Targeting the AAP and the BJP, the Congress, led by party leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi, launched a spirited campaign, eyeing to make a comeback in the national capital.

Arvind Kejriwal faces FIR

An FIR has been filed against former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a day before Delhi votes to elect a new Assembly over his allegations that Haryana is poisoning the Yamuna River.

The case, filed in Haryana, accuses the Aam Aadmi Party supremo under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita including inciting riot, promotion of hatred, falsely accusing someone of crime with intent to cause harm and committing deliberate and malicious acts that insult the religious feelings of citizens.

In a run-up to the Delhi polls, Kejriwal had claimed that the BJP was "mixing poison" in the city's water supply to "create chaos... hoping the blame will fall" on his party's administration.

"The people of Delhi get drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh... but the Haryana government has mixed poison in the water coming to Delhi from the Yamuna and sent it here... it is only due to the vigilance of our Delhi Jal Board engineers that this water was stopped," he had said.

Following this, the Election Commission of India (ECI) asked Kejriwal to provide proof supporting his allegation following a BJP complaint.

The remarks triggered a huge political row provoking the BJP, AAP, and Congress daring each other to drink the water.

Kejriwal even extended the challenge to the Election Commission, drawing a strong reprimand.