The Hindu : New Delhi News : Stage set for counting of votes

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Saturday, May 16, 2009
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Stage set for counting of votes

Special Correspondent

Congress appears to be the firm favourite for most seats

The results are expected to be out around noon
160 candidates in the fray for the seven seats

NEW DELHI: The stage is set for the counting of votes for the seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi to begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday at eight centres across the city.

A total of 160 candidates, including 72 Independents, were in the fray for the seven seats. As all the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi have about 15 lakh voters and 10 Assembly segments each post-delimitation, the results are expected to be out around noon.

What has made the Lok Sabha elections very unpredictable in Delhi this time is the record voter turnout even though it did not exceed 52 per cent. On the face of it, the Congress appears to be the firm favourite for most seats, especially since it swept the Delhi Assembly elections as recently as this past November winning 43 of the 70 Assembly seats and polling over two lakh more votes than the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Though this is a different election, the turnout of 51.81 per cent this time as against 47.09 per cent in 2004 and the pattern of voting in different Assembly segments has become a cause of concern for the BJP. Its own leaders are now wondering if the Sikh votes drifted towards the Congress as it had projected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as its prime ministerial candidate this time, which was not the case in 2004. They insist that this aspect might overshadow the 1984 riots issue that was expected to favour the BJP.

On the other hand, the Congress leaders are hopeful of yet another good showing as along with the performance of the UPA at the Centre they went to the polls banking on the performance of the Delhi Government.

According to intelligence inputs, the Congress is expected to win six seats and the BJP one. Though the best case scenario for the Congress appears to be a 7-0 win, rationalists in the party said on Friday that it would bag five seats.

In the BJP, the optimists were looking at a 4-3 showing in which they expect favourable results in West Delhi, South Delhi, Chandni Chowk and New Delhi, while some senior leaders in private said that even a clean sweep by the Congress would not surprise them.

The Congress appeared very confident about its showing in the East Delhi, North-East Delhi and North-West Delhi reserved constituencies.

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