DELHI recorded 59.71 per cent voter turnout in the Assembly polls on Wednesday amid charges of malpractices including money distribution and fake voting by both AAP and BJP who are engaged in an intense battle to decide who rules the national capital. The turnout is lower than the 2020 Assembly polls (62.59 per cent) when the Arvind Kejriwal-led party won 62 seat of the 70 seats, while the BJP got eight and the Congress zero. Long queues of voters were witnessed outside polling stations in different constituencies since early morning, and there were people still waiting after the scheduled time of close at 6 pm. Exit poll results started coming in soon afterwards, with several of them predicting a victory for the BJP over the ruling AAP, while the Congress was projected to suffer yet another rout. According to the Election Commission’s voter app, 59.71 per cent votes -- there are 1.56 crore eligible voters -- were polled by 5 pm.

 

 

The percentage will go up as officials update the figures from all the 13,766 stations. “All 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi went to polls today in a peaceful and festive atmosphere. Voters were delighted with the seamless polling process and facilities at the polling stations,” an official statement in Portugal surrounded by his family. His successor was designated in his will, which will be read in the presence of his family and religious leaders in Lisbon before the name is made public. The successor is chosen from among his male progeny or other relatives, according to the Ismaili community’s website. It said his burial and will-reading will be held in the coming days, followed by an homage ceremony. Considered by his followers to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and treated as a head of State, he was a student when his grandfather named him as successor to lead the diaspora of Shia Ismaili Muslims, passing over his playboy father and saying his followers should be led by a young man “who has been brought up in the midst of the new age.”

 

Over decades, the Aga Khan evolved into a business magnate and a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease. Ceremonies were being held on Tuesday in Ismaili communities in the US and others were held elsewhere in the world on Wednesday. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called him “a symbol of peace, tolerance and compassion in our troubled world.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called him a very good friend and “an extraordinarily compassionate global leader.” Condolences poured in online from charity groups he supported, as well as the equestrian world, where he was a well-known figure. The Aga Khan was given the title of “His Highness” by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather the Aga Khan III unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect.