EC's attempts fail to boost polling in Delhi  

 For the first time in electoral history of India, the Election Commission extended the facility of postal ballots to employees working in government departments providing essential services in this Delhi Assembly polls.

The facility was provided to employees of Northern Railway and Delhi Metro, and mediapersons having accreditation from the poll panel, said the EC. In total, 19 Form 12D under this category was received.

For the first time, the postal ballot facility was provided to the persons with disabilities and senior citizens aged 80 plus. "In total, 2,429 and 488 Form 12D was accepted from senior citizens and PwD, respectively," read an EC statement.

It was for the first time in the state cVIGIL app was used by citizens for uploading pictures/videos of violation of the election model code of conduct and poll expenditure limit. Action was taken on these posts within 100 minutes. It was a citizen-driven approach that held many to account.

But for scattered incidents, the election passed off peacefully. To maintain law and order, 38,874 Delhi Police personnel had been deployed. While in Rithala the AAP and the BJP workers clashed, Congress candidate Alka Lamba slapped an AAP supporter in the Chandni Chowk area.

Though the voting was slow in initial hours, it picked up by the end of the day and 61.46 per cent of the 1,47,86,382 voters cast their votes. However, it was low compared with 67.14 per cent of the 2015 polls.
-IANS