Delhi polls on 7 Feb; results on 10 Feb: EC

Assembly polls in Delhi will be held on 7 February and counting of votes will take place on 10th February, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Monday.

With the declaration of the poll schedule, the EC said the Model Code of Conduct will come into force with immediate effect.

The commission said the notification for the polls will be issued on 14th January while the last date for filing nominations will be 21st January. The last date of scrutiny will be 22nd January.

Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath and Election Commissioners H S Brahma and Nasim Zaidi, told a press conference in New Delhi that 1.30 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise across 70 constituencies in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.

"The dissolution (of the Delhi Assembly) order of the President will expire by February 15 and in order to restore the mandate of the people as expeditiously as possible, the Commission has decided to go in for elections where the results will be known well before February 15," Sampath said.

He said the EC has put up mechanisms to conduct a free and fair election in Delhi and all measures to check the use of money power will be taken. He added, the updated electoral rolls for these elections have already been published on 5th January.