NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar announced today that the Delhi Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on February 5, with the vote counting scheduled for February 8. Notably, the assembly election is scheduled to take place on a single day of Wednesday, Kumar said which is just like the Maharashtra assembly polls that was on November 20 last year, and counting took place on November 23.

This announcement marks the first major election of 2025 and brings the Model Code of Conduct into effect in the national capital and sets the stage for a highly anticipated and closely watched election in Delhi, with all eyes on the political landscape as the date approaches.

Delhi has a total of 1.55 crore registered voters, including 83.49 lakh men, 71.74 lakh women, and 1,261 third-gender voters. The election will see participation from major political parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress.

The notification for the Delhi polls will be issued on January 10, with the last date for filing nominations set for January 17. The scrutiny of candidates will take place on January 18, and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is January 20.

During the media conference of announcing the Delhi poll dates, the CEC also addressed concerns over Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) manipulation, voter turnout discrepancies, and voter deletion issues that has been raised by the opposition parties in the last few assembly elections and he assured that EVMs are tamper-proof and undergo stringent scrutiny. 

He emphasized the importance of transparency and fairness in the electoral process and said that India is gold standard of elections. "There is no scope of any irregularity in the commission, the procedures are so detailed We are ready to punish if there are any mistakes individually, we are ready to take punishment too," the CEC said during the media interaction. CEC Kumar also highlighted the significance of youth participation, urging first-time voters to actively engage in the electoral process.

Kumar also said India will soon create a new record of one billion-plus voters. "Electoral rolls were released yesterday. We are crossing 99 crore voters... We are going to be a nation of one billion voters very soon, which will be another record in voting," Mr Kumar said. He added that 2024 was the year of elections globally when two-third of the world's population in democracies voted in different polls.