Delhi records 67 percent polling

New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) The fiercely fought Delhi assembly election Saturday saw a record voter turnout of 67.08 percent.

"We are happy to announce this election has been unprecedented in terms of voter turnout. The poll percentage has crossed 67.08 percent," Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.

In the 2013 polls, the turnout was over 66 percent.

Delhi's North East district witnessed the highest turnout at 69.89 percent while the New Delhi district registered the lowest at 64.01 percent, the Election Commission said.

There were 673 candidates in the fray for 70 assembly seats. Voting took place in 11,763 centres.

While balloting was initially slow in many middle and upper middle class areas, polling stations in low income localities witnessed virtual mobs right from the time the exercise began at 8 a.m.

Among the early voters were former chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and BJP's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi besides Congress leader Ajay Maken and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged voters to exercise their franchise in large numbers.

Many initial voters in middle class and posh areas were morning walkers. There were also those employed in neighbouring Haryana and Uttar Pradesh who had to go to work after voting.