Off the wire
• Chinese units of "Big Four" global auditors settle dispute with SEC  • Urgent: Indian capital goes to polls  • Tennis Fed Cup draws  • China recalls injections with fur-like impurities  • Zagreb Indoor Open ATP results  • Brazil's state bank president to head troubled Petrobras  • Brazilian court seizes former billionaire Eike Batista's assests  • 61 bodies discovered at abandoned crematorium in southern Mexico  • Death toll from Mexico hospital gas blast climbs to 5  • Equatorial Guinea fined for African Cup semi violence  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Indian capital goes to polls

Xinhua, February 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Indian capital New Delhi went to polls Saturday, in what is being seen as a closely contested fight between the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by former civil servant-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal.

Voting began amid tight security at 8 a.m. (local time) for the 70 assembly seats in Delhi, which has been under President's rule since February last year when Kejriwal resigned as the Chief Minister after 49 days in office.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "As Delhi votes today, urging voters to go out and vote in large numbers. I particularly call upon my young friends to vote in record numbers. "

Over 13 million people are eligible to vote in the Indian capital.

Local TV channels showed people coming out in moderate numbers to cast their ballots, including Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, whose daughter Sharmistha is also fighting the polls on a ticket from the country's main opposition Congress party from a constituency in south Delhi.

While 46-year-old Kejriwal is the contender for the Chief Minister's post if AAP comes to power, the BJP has fielded 65-year- old former top cop Kiran Bedi against him, while the Congress party is being led by former Sports Minister Ajay Maken.

The Congress, which ruled the national capital for three five- year terms and was decimated in the assembly polls held in December 2013, is widely expected to finish a distant third in the race once again.

The results of the polls will be announced on Feb. 10. Endi