Voting in the high stakes Delhi Assembly elections commenced on Wednesday with 57.70 per cent votes being cast till 5 pm across the 70 constituencies.

Voters are casting their ballot at 13,766 stations to decide on the fate of 699 candidates. Around 1.56 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in the national capital territory (NCT).

Till 5 pm , North East district reported the highest voting with 63.83 per cent of voters casting their ballot. North West district reported a voting percentage of 58.05 per cent, Shahdara (61.35 per cent), South (55.72 per cent), South East (53.77 per cent), South West (58.86 per cent) and West (57.42 per cent).

While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is seeking a third straight term, banking on its governance record and welfare schemes, the BJP and Congress are looking for a change.

Polling started at 7 am and will conclude at 6 pm.

Important candidates in the Assembly elections include AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal who is fighting from New Delhi constituency against former BJP MP Parvesh Verma and Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit who is the son of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi is fighting BJP’s Delhi unit Chief Ramesh Bidhuri, and Congress’s Alka Lamba. Another tight contest is in Jangpura, where AAP’s Manish Sisodia has been fielded there against BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah, and Congress’s Farhad Suri.