NEW DELHI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- India's election commission officials on Friday said all arrangements and adequate security measures were put in place for the upcoming local elections scheduled to take place on Saturday in the capital city Delhi.
"All preparations are in place for tomorrow's assembly elections," a local government official associated with the conduct of polls said. "The election commission has made arrangements for special postal ballot facility."
The campaigning for elections ended on Thursday evening.
Officials said 672 candidates are in the election fray for the 70 seats and around 14.7 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections.
According to the state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR), 13,750 polling stations have been set up for the people to cast their votes.
Authorities have beefed up security apparatus across the city ahead of voting.
"Around 40,000 police personnel and several companies of paramilitary force have been deployed for security of poling premises. In addition, 19,000 home guards will assist in ensuring security for polling booths and premises," the broadcaster said.
The services of Delhi Metro will begin at 4:00 a.m. (local time) on Saturday to facilitate the polling personnel and others to reach their destination on time.
In the ongoing elections, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of the Delhi's National Capital Territory is seeking to regain power under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, who is facing tough competition from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
The counting of votes will be taken up on Feb. 11.
During the city's previous elections held in 2015, AAP swept polls and registered a landslide victory by winning 67 of 70 seats. The BJP won just three, while as India's grand old Congress party failed to win a single seat.
The election commission has issued a notification restricting media from conducting or publishing any exit poll during local elections in Delhi on Saturday.
