India, Feb. 7 -- While nearly 10 million people exercised their franchise on Wednesday, sealing the electoral fate of 698 candidates, the streets and walls of Delhi now bear the aftermath of a fierce electoral battle. The city is now littered with remnants of 1.9 million posters, defaced walls, and a new menace - digital posters - that are nearly impossible to peel away.

Civic workers said public spaces, from foot overbridges and subways to street signboards and market squares, have been left in disarray. They now face the daunting task of clearing up this mess before it resurfaces when results are declared on Saturday.

The most persistent issue for the hundreds of workers cleaning up the mess are thin-film digital posters, which have p...