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Roundup: Indian capital votes in assembly polls billed as Modi's first real test of popularity

Xinhua, February 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Indian capital went to the polls Saturday in a bitterly contested fight mainly 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.

Moderate polling was recorded in Delhi, which has been under the President's rule since February last year and where more than 13 million people were eligible to vote at over 12,000 polling booths to elect 70 legislators.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, main opposition Congress party's chief Sonia Gandhi were among the high-profile voters in the polls, in which the President's daughter Sharmistha is also contesting on a Congress ticket.

While Kejriwal is the AAP's contender for the chief minister's post, the BJP has fielded former top cop Kiran Bedi as its candidate for the polls billed as the first real test of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.

The Congress party, which has been ruled out in the polls, has fielded former Sport Minister Ajay Maken as a face-saving measure, after being decimated in the assembly elections in December 2013, following 15 years in power.

While the BJP has been banking on Modi's charisma and pledge of bringing in economic reforms and foreign investment as well as giving good governance, the AAP has widespread support among working-class voters concerned about issues such as rising prices, unemployment and corruption.

During weeks of hectic campaigning, both Bedi and Kejriwal -- who worked together during the anti-corruption campaign, led by social activist Anna Hazare, but have since developed rivalry -- promised to bring in good governance, end corruption and make Delhi safe for women.

However, several surveys have put the AAP ahead of the BJP, though Kejriwal had resigned as Delhi's chief minister in February 2014, after being in power for just 49 days. The party, which had got 28 seats in the last assembly polls, formed the government with support from the eight-member Congress party.

This year's poll campaigns have seen bitter trade of allegations between the BJP and the AAP. While the BJP's Bedi alleged that AAP was distributing cash and "forcing people" to vote for the party, Kejriwal accused his rival of distributing alcohol and money to allure voters.

Though Modi and several top Indian ministers have campaigned for Bedi, but the party has emphasised that the results of the polls cannot be billed as a test of the prime minister's popularity.

The results will be announced Tuesday and spell out a new era in Delhi which has been without a government for a year. Endi