Polling has begun for 70 constituencies in Delhi where the fate of 672 candidates in the fray for 70 assembly seats, will be sealed.

As part of the polling, which began at 8 am and will end at 6 pm, over 1.47 crore eligible voters will exercise their franchise in the 2020 election.

The Delhi election campaign, which ended in the evening of February 6, saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aggressively raising the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh as a poll issue, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hard-selling development as its poll plank.

In view of the ongoing anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh, the Delhi CEO Office has put all five polling stations in the area under the “critical” category. Delhi chief electoral officer Ranbir Singh reiterated that the area is under “tight vigil” and “there is no obstruction” in areas where poll activities will be conducted.

The police have deployed nearly 40,000 security personnel, 19,000 home guards and 190 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CRPF) to ensure violence-free and smooth Delhi Assembly polls.

There are 13,750 polling booths, besides one auxiliary booth, located at 2,689 locations across Delhi. “As far as critical polling stations are concerned, there are 516 locations and 3,704 booths in that category,” Singh said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday took to Twitter to appeal to Delhiites to exercise their franchise. “I appeal to the people of Delhi to vote to free Delhi from lies and vote bank politics”, tweeted Shah.

Delhi election results will be declared on February 11.

Meanwhile, just ahead of the polls, the CBI arrested a Delhi government officer understood to be the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an alleged bribery case of Rs 2 lakh.

Gopal Krishna Madhav was arrested in a late night operation for allegedly receiving a bribe of over Rs 2 lakh in a matter related to GST, they said.