The Hindu : New Delhi News : A few distinctions for the Capital

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Friday, Apr 16, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

A few distinctions for the Capital

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 15. Even though it has only seven Lok Sabha seats, the Capital has the distinction of not only having a constituency with the maximum number of voters, it also probably has the smallest (area-wise) constituency in the country.

With 3,370,541 voters, the sprawling Outer Delhi Lok Sabha constituency -- extending from the rural areas of Narela and Alipur to the Rohini and Dwarka sub-cities to Sangam Vihar and Badarpur - has the maximum number of voters in any parliamentary constituencies in the country, the Chief Electoral Officer for Delhi, Arun Goyal, said here today.

In fact, 38.5 per cent of the Capital's 87.5 lakh electorate reside in this constituency alone. With the Election Commission identifying 3,258 polling stations, Outer Delhi alone accounts for more than one-third of the 9,055 booths of the Capital.

And if one takes into account the 2,603,528 electorates and 2,563 polling booths of the East Delhi constituency, the two seats account for 68 per cent of the total voters and 64 per cent of the polling booths of the Capital. The remaining - less than one third -- are distributed among the remaining five seats -- New Delhi, South Delhi, Chandni Chowk, Delhi Sadar and Karol Bagh (SC).

Mr. Goyal said that with an area of about 10 sq. km, Chandni Chowk is probably the smallest Lok Sabha constituency in the country. The Delhi Sadar constituency, having an area of a little over 11 sq. km follows closely. Chandni Chowk has just 412 polling stations, while Delhi Sadar has 522. Further, Chandni Chowk has 337,386 voters in the Capital, while Delhi Sadar has 471,504 voters.

According to the figures released by the Chief Electoral Officer today, Karol Bagh has 504,885 voters and there are 576 polling stations in this constituency. The prestigious New Delhi constituency has 456,624 electors and 560 polling stations.

After Outer Delhi and East Delhi, the South Delhi constituency is a distant third in terms of number of voters with 1,009,188 electors and has 1,164 polling stations, he said.

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