Delhi municipal polls peaceful barring a few glitches

NEW DELHI: Except for a few arguments and minor scuffles, Sunday’s polling was largely peaceful, said Delhi Police. Around 861 calls were received about heated arguments and minor scuffles, booth capture and faulty EVMs from across the city till 6pm. But around 70% of them were resolved immediately while legal action has been initiated against just 5%, said the police.

The police had to intervene in a scuffle in Ambedkar Nagar where a political leader alleged that she was attacked by some people.

A police team was also put on standby following reports of firing outside a booth in the Bindapur area of southwest Delhi. However, the call was found to be bogus. Around the evening, a candidate from Rohini alleged that he was beaten up by goons outside his house. The police are probing his claim.

According to the police data, 127 calls about various issues related to polling booths were received from Rohini alone. A senior official said most of the calls were from members of political parties who complained about defective EVMs, distribution of money and liquor by opposition parties and bogus voting.

A multi-layer security arrangement was put in place at 13,022 booths — 197 hypersensitive and 575 sensitive — located in 770 buildings. Besides 56,256 Delhi Police personnel, 40 companies of paramilitary forces and 20,000 home guards were deployed. The police also met the candidates and election managers of all parties to ensure that workers didn’t clash with each other.