All ten Assembly constituencies of North-East district witnessed huge voter turnout on Wednesday. Scores of people thronged the booths since 7 am. The Aam Aadmi Party, which has debuted in this election, has successfully shown its presence as scores of voters claimed to vote for the party. The polling was peaceful despite majority of sensitive and hypersensitive booths falling in the region.
A major chunk of voters from Seemapuri, Rohtash Nagar, Seelampur and Mustafabad constituencies claimed they would vote in support of the Congress candidates, while the BJP candidates may benefit in Babarpur, Ghonda, Karawal Nagar and Burari seats. A huge support for Devi Dayal, AAP candidate, was reflected in Gokalpur while the voters of Timarpur looked divided among the BJP, Congress and the AAP equally. A major chunk of Delhi University students said they would vote for the AAP candidate. Women voters also came out in sizeable numbers in most of the constituencies with many polling booths. No voter found supporting the None Of The Above (NOTA) option.
Inflation, corruption, security of women and development of city were the key issues for residents of North-East district. The voters had different opinions about candidates and even the views of family members were also unanimous as they voted for candidates of their choice. For 56-year-old SP Shrivastava, a Government employee, inflation and corruption are the biggest issues that should guide one to vote for the right candidate.
Naresh Gaur, BJP candidate from Babarpur seat, said that he is confident of his victory due to division of Muslim votes among the Congress, BSP and Peace Party. “The Hindu-dominated areas have recorded 70 per cent votes, while Mulslim-dominated areas recorded only 55 per cent. Hindu votes, including 20 per cent Brahmins, have voted in my favour while votes of other communities were not united. Deposit of Gopal Rai will be forfeited and will bag the fifth position,” said Gaur, a three-time MlA from the constituency.
Banking on anti-Dikshit votes, BJP candidate from Rohtash Nagar Jitendra Mahajan said that he is confident of victory due to spiralling price rise, inflation and corruption. Apart from this, a large number of Modi supporters have also voted for the BJP to end the 15-year-old regime of the Sheila-led Congress Government in Delhi. “We are enjoying a good support of people, who are fed up with Sheila Dikshit’s poor governance,” said Mahajan.
The prominent candidates contesting from Assembly constituencies of North-East district are Vipin Sharma (Rohtash Nagar), Naresh Gaur — three-time MlA, Gopal Rai — senior AAP leader (Babarpur), Chaudhary Mateen Ahmed — four-times MlA (Seelampur), Mohan Singh Bisht - three-time MlA (Karawal Nagar), Surendra Pal Singh Bittu — three-time MlA, and Rajni Abbi — former mayor of MCD from Timarpur.