Delhi Assembly Election 2020

The Delhi Legislative Assembly or the Delhi Vidhan Sabha is located at the present Secretariat Building on Raisina Hill and is a unicameral lawmaking body of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It comprises of 70 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) who are directly elected from single-seat constituencies for a term of five years.

HISTORY:

The Delhi Legislative Assembly was first constituted on March 7, 1952 under the Government of Part-C States Act, 1951 and it had 48 members, and a Council of Ministers in an advisory role to the Chief Commissioner of Delhi, though it also had powers to make laws. In September 1966, with 'The Delhi Administration Act, 1966', the assembly was replaced by the Delhi Metropolitan Council with 56 elected and five nominated members with the Lt. Governor of Delhi as its head.

The Delhi Metropolitan Council, however, had no legislative powers, only an advisory role in the governance of Delhi and it functioned until 1990. It was finally replaced by the Delhi Legislative Assembly through the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991.

CURRENT:

The current Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly is Ram Niwas Goel of the Aam Aadmi Party and Deputy Speaker is Rakhi Birla of AAP. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP is the Leader of the House after his party bagged 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.

END OF TERM:

The term of the current Legislative Assembly elected in 2015 expires on February 22, 2020 and political parties geared up for the election which was held on February 8, 2020. The date of notification for the Delhi Assembly Election 2020 was given as January 14 with the last date for filing nomination given as January 21, 2020. The scrutiny of nomination took place on January 22, and the last date for withdrawal of nomination was given as January 24, 2020. The date for counting of votes was given as February 11, 2020.

ABSENTEE VOTERS:

This year, the Election Commission of India has introduced a new concept of absentee voters for people who are above 80 years of age. As per updates from CEC Sunil Arora, the new concept enables voters who are not able to come to polling stations due to physical circumstances or unavoidable reasons to take part in the polls. As per the new concept, people with physical disabilities and senior citizens above 80 years can either vote in person or vote through postal ballot.

PERCENTAGE OF VOTERS:

The polling for the Delhi Assembly Election 2020 went off peacefully on February 8, with the final voter turnout said to be 62.59 per cent, down from 67.47 per cent in the 2015 assembly polls. As per the exit polls, the prediction is that it will be an easy win for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which sought to retain power by pushing the development plank.