Delhi votes to elect new civic body
New Delhi : Polling opened in the Indian capital Thursday morning to elect a new Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), now overwhelmingly controlled by the Congress party.
Balloting started on snail's pace at 8 a.m. all over the city, with 9.9 million voters eligible to exercise their franchise to pick a new 272-member civic body.
A total of 2,575 candidates are in the fray, but the main challenge to the Congress comes from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Thanks to the larger number of smaller wards introduced this time, more than 1,500 independents are also fighting it out.
State Election Commissioner S.P. Marwah urged people in Delhi to cast their ballots on a large scale. "If people do not vote in large numbers, the polls will not reflect the popular choice of the electorate," he said.
