New Delhi goes to the polls in India's election: live updates

Views from the street

From CNN's Helen Regan and Omar Khan

 

Fruit seller Ashok Kumar says education is the most important issue.Omar Khan

In the frenetic heart of Old Delhi, 53-year-old Ashok Kumar sells lotus fruit and garlic "for good cholesterol" from a basket on the crowded streets.

Nestled between shops selling colorful wedding fabric, Kumar says the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is the current ruling party in New Delhi, has done good work in the city by setting up clinics and free water schemes. But he also feels left out of the political process.

"They hardly care about us, the common man," he says of the big parties. "Nobody cares about us. We are here, we are doing this business and we'll keep doing this business. No one will come and ask us how are you doing, what are you doing?"

Kumar's main concern is education. While he is uneducated, he put his daughter and two sons though school.

"Every common man wants his kids to be educated but education is so expensive so they can't," he says. "They need to be educated, they need to have jobs. The parties are talking about jobs and education but will they do it?"

27 min ago

Misinformation campaign targets AAP candidate ahead of poll

From CNN's Manveena Suri

Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party’s East Delhi constituency candidate, former cricketer Gautam Gambhir, of distributing pamphlets defaming his AAP rival Atishi Marlena in several areas of the constituency.

Speaking at a press conference, Atishi as she is popularly known, broke down while reading from the pamphlet, which uses a number of gender-related slurs and religious insults to describe her.

“BJP and Gautam Gambhir distributed the pamphlets in different apartment complexes ... they should raise questions about politics in the country, mainly against a woman,” Atishi said.

“We would clap for Gambhir when he used to bash opponents with fours and sixes while playing for India but never in our worst dreams would we have thought that this man would stoop this low to win an election,” she added.

Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of New Delhi, is also mentioned in the pamphlet.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal defended his candidate, tweeting, “Never imagined Gautam Gambhir to stoop so low. How can women expect safety if people with such mentality are voted in?"

Here's who is voting today

From CNN's Manveena Suri

 

An Indian polling official carries a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine at an election material distribution centre on the eve of the 6th phase of India's general election in Allahabad.SANJAY KANOJIA/AFP/Getty Images

 

Polls have opened in the penultimate phase of India's election across six states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal in the east, northern Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and central Madhya Pradesh, and the national capital territory of New Delhi. 

More than 100 million people will be voting in 59 constituencies.

Here's a breakdown of how many registered voters will be eligible to cast their ballots today:

Bihar: 13.8 million

Haryana: 18 million

Jharkhand: 6.6 million

Madhya Pradesh: 10.5 million

Uttar Pradesh: 25 million

West Bengal: 13 million

New Delhi: 14.3.million

In addition, 168 polling stations in the constituency of Tripura West in northeast Tripura state will re-poll. Voting was held there in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 11.

The Election Commission declared voting held at these polling stations void based on reports submitted by the chief electoral officer, special observer, general observers and the returning officer.

According to local media reports, the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had demanded a re-poll alleging large-scale rigging, booth capturing, intimidation and attacks by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The BJP has dismissed the accusations.

Both the Congress and the CPI-M parties had also threatened to move the Supreme Court if the Election Commission did not order fresh polls or re-polling at 50% of booths in the constituency, The Times of India had reported.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net