EVMs
In picture: Electronic voting machines (EVMs).Reuters file photo

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections start in a matter of hours, in what will most likely be a two-sided affair. On one side is the BJP, which had controlled the MCD – and subsequently its three wings – for a decade, and would like no change in the regime. On the other side is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose leader Arvind Kejriwal is fighting hard to gain control of the civic body.

An outsider – but you would not know it given the bravado its members are showing – is the Congress, which seems to be on the wane all over the country. Driven out of power from the Delhi Assembly, the party has, in the run-up to the MCD elections seen a number of defections.

Possibly the most debilitating of them was former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who joined the BJP recently. And then, just a dy before polling, former Delhi Women's Congress chief Barkha Shukla Singh was welcomed into the saffron party. She had a day earlier been kicked out of the Congress for "anty-party activities. She had called Rahul Gandhi "mentally unfit."

Back to the fight, and both the AAP and the BJP have their tasks cut out. A win here would mean that the BJP was still going strong. A loss for the saffron party would mean it had once again stumbled against the only non-coalition party which it had competed against in recent times in an election where it was the incumbent.

Here are the LIVE updates from the polling:

5:45 pm IST: The AAP has been constantly talking of malfunctioning EVMs. This former chief election commissioner has some wise words for the party. 

5:30 pm IST: And with that the voting ends. The turnout was not all that encouraging. And this could go in favour of the BJP.

4 pm IST: The polling percentage shows some improvement. 

3:40 pm IST: We are in the final couple of hours of polling. And some interesting scenes are emerging. 

2:50 pm IST: Here's one gentleman who says his friend was not allowed to vote in the elections despite having a voter slip. He told IBTimes India the polling booth was one at Sarai Pipal.

He said: "A friend of mine travelled all the way from München [aka Munich in Germany]. Now he can't vote because some machine is kaput."

2:30 pm IST: After EVMs being hacked, EVMs not functioning is Kejriwal's latest accusation. He also claims people with voter slips are not being allowed to cast their ballot. 

2:20 pm IST: And now there are more people whose names are missing from the electoral rolls. This gentleman told IBTimes India that he stays in South Delhi, but his voter ID was not found. 

1:30 pm IST: Polling continues at a slow pace. Another AAP MLA casts his vote.

12:15 pm IST: Now former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit casts her vote.

12:10 pm IST: Here's a different account of the voter turnout in the MCD elections. 

11:45 am IST: Meanwhile, there seems to be a correct as well as a wrong way to show your voter ink when your middle finger has been marked. 

11:40 am IST: Another person not allowed to vote, because his name is not on the electoral rolls. He has been asked to contact the block-level officer, he told IBTimes India. 

11:35 am IST: This is a much more serious allegation. Big questions: Isn't this Sambit Patra? Did he really vote twice? Or is the other ink from the Rajouri Garden bypoll?


And here are the answers: This is indeed Sambit Patra, and looks like the photo is morphed. Here is the real one!

11:30 am IST: Yet another allegation of poll code violation against the BJP.

11:25 am IST: Delhi BJP leader Maheish Girri casts his vote.

11:15 am IST: Looks like there are some hiccups with the electoral rolls. Will the EC answer these questions?

This is at Polling Booth 27 at Shahdara in Ram Nagar, Sharma told IBTimes India. 

11 am IST: A humorous take on what's happening with the voter turnout. 

10:50 am IST: Two and a half hours, and a paltry 1.16 percent votes in MCD elections!

10:25 am IST: Ajay Maken of the Congress exercises his franchise.

9:50 am IST: AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal votes with his family.

9:45 am IST: An AAP office-bearer points out a possible violation of poll code. Will the election commission take action?

9:40 am IST: Meanwhile, some jokes are doing the rounds of social media. Some one-upmanship, maybe?

9:30 am IST: The AAP's Kapil Mishra casts his vote along with his mother. 

9:10 am IST: Delhi deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has cast his vote.

9:05 am IST: Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was once a Delhi BJP leader before graduating to Union minister, has now exercised his franchise. 

8:55 am IST: Looks like there are some hiccups at a polling booth in Dwarka Sector C. Two-three EVMs are not functioning, says AAP functionary. 

8:45 am IST: Arvinder Singh Lovely, who recently quit the Congress and joined the BJP, has just cast his vote.

8:30 am IST: FYI, counting for the election will take place on Wednesday, April 26. Reports are coming in of brisk voting at the polling booths.

8:10 am IST: Almost leading by example, Delhi L-G Anil Baijal is among the first wave of voters in the MCD elections.

8 am IST: It has begun!

7 am IST: About an hour to go before polling begins. Read how the BJP emulated the AAP in the run-up to the elections.

6 am IST: With the polling a mere couple of hours away, the here's a look at the controversy Kejriwal landed in by insinuating that the EC and the BJP were hand-in-glove.

5 am IST: Social media hs been abuzz to quite an extent with hashtags supporting one party or the other. How much will this affect polling?

4 am IST: With voting a few hours away, the Election Commission has ensured the best of facilities for smooth polling. Hopefully, we are past all the hullaballoo over EVM tampering, and will see free and fair polls.

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