NEW DELHI, Jan 7: All the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi will go to polls on February 5 and the votes will be counted on February 8, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced today.
Bypolls to two Assembly constituencies — Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh and Erode in Tamil Nadu — will also be held according to the same schedule. The bypoll was necessitated following the election of Milkipur MLA Awadhesh Prasad to the Lok Sabha and the death of Erode MLA EVKS Elangovan.
The CEC announced that bypolls in two constituencies of jammu and Kashmir — Budgam and Nagrota — will take place later due to the current snowy conditions. The by-elections in West Bengal’s Basirhat and Gujarat’s Visavadar cannot be held till election petitions are pending, he said.
The last date to file nominations is January 17 and the scrutiny of nominations will be done by January 18. Candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations till January 20, Kumar said.
“It is a single-phase election… We have deliberately kept polling on a Wednesday so more people come out to vote… like we did in Maharashtra. The entire election process will be completed by February 10,” Kumar said at a press conference.
Of the 70 seats in Delhi, 58 are general and 12 reserved.
According to the electoral roll, Delhi has 1.55 crore voters — 83.49 lakh men, 71.74 lakh women and 1,261 transgender persons.
There are 25.89 lakh young voters, 2.08 lakh first-time voters, and 830 above the age of 100, Kumar said.
More than 13,000 polling stations will be set up in Delhi, he said.
In the 2020 polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 62 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) eight while the Congress drew a blank.
Kumar also said bypolls were due in two assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir — Budgam and Nagrota.
“….because of snow conditions, we will do it later. We have time till April and we will complete those elections before that,” he said.
“There are two more parliamentary constituencies — Basirhat in West Bengal and Visavadar in Gujarat. In both the cases, there are election petitions pending and, according to rules, we cannot do by-elections till then,” he added.
Election petitions can be filed against the winning candidate in the respective state high courts within 45 days of the declaration of results.
Kumar defended the recent amendment to election rules restricting CCTV footage of polling booths from public inspection, saying it is meant to protect voters’ privacy and prevent use of data for creating fake narratives.
Based on Election Commission’s recommendation, the government had last month tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV camera footage of polling stations to prevent misuse.
In his first remarks on tweak of Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, Kumar said only sharing of CCTV footage from inside and outside polling booths have been restricted.
He said such data or footage was banned for public inspection through EC’s instructions in 2024.
He said certain other documents which are allowed under Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules will continue to be available.
Some documents which are already restricted from sharing are forms filled by poll officials about the name of the voter and the identity shown by them before voting.
Kumar said rules were amended to “protect the identity of the voters as well as their profiling”. He said if the footage is made public, the identity of those who voted and those who did not, would be revealed and was violative of privacy norms.
If footage of 10.5 lakh polling stations where suppose polling takes place for 10 hours is given out, it would mean data of one crore hours. “A person will need 3,600 years to go through the recordings if watched for eight hours daily,” he said.
“Why does he want it? Let us ask this question from the person who wants it,” Kumar said.
He said the poll authority has examples to prove that the data would be used for machine learning and using AI to create narratives.
The CEC said even fact checkers would not be able to find out whether the AI-generated videos of polling stations are fake or genuine.
Kumar dismissed allegations of manipulation in electoral roll, saying no deletion can occur without thorough documentation, field verification, and giving the concerned individual an opportunity to be heard.
Kumar emphasised that the process for additions and deletions is transparent, rigorous, and immune to arbitrary changes.
“Every step of the electoral roll process is rooted in transparency and accountability. Deletion of names is not possible without adhering to strict protocols, and every party has the right to raise objections at various stages,” he said.
Kumar also detailed the comprehensive process governing the maintenance of electoral roll.
For additions, names are included only after thorough foot-and-field verification by Booth – Level Officers (BLOs), he said.
“Regular meetings are held with the representatives of political parties, who have the right to appoint Booth-Level Agents (BLAs). Weekly lists of claims and objections are shared, and both draft and final rolls are published on the Election Commission’s website. Polling station rationalisation is also carried out with the consultation of all the stakeholders,” the CEC said.
On deletions, Kumar clarified that they are processed only through Form 7 or Form B, following strict guidelines.
“Mandatory field verification is conducted by the BLOs, and in cases where deletions exceed 2 per cent of a polling station’s voter list, cross-verification is done. Deletions due to death require a certified death certificate, and a seven-day window is provided for objections after notices are published online. Also, the affected voters are given the opportunity for a personal hearing before their names are removed,” he said.
“No deletion can occur without thorough documentation, field verification, and giving the concerned individual an opportunity to be heard,” Kumar reiterated.
Kumar said it is very difficult to define what a “freebie” is and the Election Commission’s “hands are tied” on the issue as it is subjudice.
He also said it was “high time” that “accepted and legal answers” were found.
Asked about political parties announcing freebies during election campaigns, he said the matter was subjudice and referred to a court judgment that had held freebies were not “disallowed”.
“What is freebie for me may be an entitlement for someone else… It is very difficult to define what a freebie is,” Kumar said.
“Our proforma is on our website, this is high time it is accepted and legal answers are found but our hands are tied at the moment because the matter is subjudice,” he added.
Kumar further said that while such announcements were made, people should also be aware of the state’s fiscal health.
“It is necessary to see what is the fiscal health of a state… What is the debt-to-GDP ratio? How much will you borrow on that promise? How much is the financial cost of this promise?” he said.
“…We cannot mortgage the future of future generations, this is a very very serious issue,” he added. (PTI)
