New Delhi : Polling for the bypoll on the Rajinder Nagar seat of the national capital is underway where Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party are in a direct battle. The seat remained vacated after the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Raghav Chadha was nominated for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on March 21. the Kejriwal government has been criticised by the Opposition for its liquor policy.
Voting for bypolls to three Lok Sabha seats and seven assembly seats is underway in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Tripura on Thursday. The AAP has fielded Durgesh Pathak for filling the Chadha's vacant seat of Rajinder Nagar against the former Bharatiya Janata Party councillor Rajesh Bhatia and Congress' Prem Lata.
The Chief Electoral Officer Delhi, Ranbir Singh, on Wednesday has appealed to the voters of Rajinder Nagar Constituency to serve the democracy by casting their valuable vote on the polling day, said a press release. In a conversation with news agency, the voters at the polling booth put talked about their expectations and major issues they face.
According to the voters, they have mainly voted considering the issues of water, electricity and sanitation. "One party has given proper attention to the issues of water and electricity, but our main concern this time is that of sanitation. There is no cleanliness on the roads. Any of our problems, be it the need to change the line of swear or pipe, earlier immediate action was taken, hence we do not have any complaints regarding that," one of the voters said.
"The problems get easier to be resolved if all the departments are under the control of the same party, instead of two (water and electricity) being with one and the third one (cleanliness) with another," he added. Expressing satisfaction with Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP in Delhi, another voter said, "Cleanliness and water are the main concerns here, else everything is going good with the current ruling party (AAP) in Delhi."
The total number of voters in the Raajnder Nagar constituency are 1,64,698 comprising 92,221 Male; 72,473 Female; and four Third Gender Voters. There are 591 PwD Electors, 39 Visually Impaired Electors, and 64 Service Voters. First-time voters within the age of 18-19 years are 1,899. The Gender ratio stands at 786 and a total of 190 polling stations have been set up at 21 different locations in Rajinder Nagar Constituency to help the eligible voters cast their valuable votes on the polling day.
CEO Ranbir Singh further added that a total of six companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the Bye-poll election in the Rajinder Nagar Constituency, which includes four men and two women companies. Besides this, 308 Delhi Police Personnel and 177 Home Guards have also been deployed to conduct a free and fair by-poll.
More than 1.64 lakh voters are eligible to vote at as many as 190 polling stations that will be in place at 21 locations for the MLA election. The counting of votes for the Rajinder Nagar Vidhan Sabha by-election will take place on June 26.