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Polling commenced for the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi on Saturday, with citizens lining up outside polling stations across the city early in the morning to avoid the summer heat.

 

Union ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi Minister Atishi, outgoing East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, and candidates from various parties were among the early morning voters.

 

Officials confirmed that President Droupadi Murmu also cast her vote in the New Delhi constituency.

 

In a Hindi post on X, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged people to vote and encourage their family members, relatives, and friends to exercise their right to vote.

 

"...Each vote cast by you in this great festival of democracy will be against the authoritarian mindset and strengthen democracy and the Constitution of India. Go to the polling stations and assert that there is democracy in India and democracy will remain in India through your votes," Kejriwal said.

 

A "yellow" warning is in place for the day, and the Met Office has predicted that the temperature will likely reach a maximum of 44 degrees Celsius.

 

The Delhi poll body has stated that it is arranging for voters to cope with the scorching heat.

 

People were queuing up outside the more than 13,000 polling booths across the seven constituencies before voting at 7 am.

 

A total of 1.52 crore voters -- 82 lakh men, 69 lakh women, and 1,228 from the third gender category -- are eligible to cast their votes at more than 13,000 polling booths across the seven constituencies, officials said.

 

There are more than 2.52 lakh first-time voters this time.

 

The BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 and 2019 elections and aims for a clean sweep for the third consecutive time.