The counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly elections 2020 is underway. As per early trends, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken a clear lead.
Early trends have shown that the party will easily get a clear majority and form a government for the third time in the national capital.
However, trends for the Okhla constituency, which includes the Shaheen Bagh area, have given the lead to the BJP. The area was a bone of contention for all the parties
In the region that comes under South-East Delhi, women have been sitting on protest against the CAA and NRC since December 15 last year. Issues were said to have promoted an anti-BJP sentiment among the voters in the constituency, where a majority of the electorate belong to the Muslim community.
The Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch of road no. 13A in the national capital has also been closed since December 15 last year after protesters occupied the road.
The region became a common theme in the Delhi election campaign for all parties. A few BJP leaders even went a step ahead and gave different names to the protests. While some called the agitators 'rapists' and 'traitors', others have termed the Shaheen Bagh area as 'mini Pakistan'.
As per the trends at 12 PM, the current Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, is being considered the favourite to once again lead AAP in successfully retaining the Union Territory. His deputy Manish Sisodia is, however, trailing behind BJP's Ravinder Singh Negi in the Patparganj constituency. Other top candidates of the party including Raghav Chadha, Gopal Rai, Atishi are leading from their respective seats.
On the other hand, the down-and-out Congress is still on a golden duck after scoring a big zero in the 2015 Delhi election.
Tight security arrangements have also been put in place at various centres across the national capital with strong rooms storing the EVMs placed under three-layer security.