As Delhi goes to vote on May 12, campaigning in the national Capital came to end on Friday evening. The contenders have left no stone unturned to reach out to the last of the voters. Local issues seem to be at forefront in deciding the fate of the candidates who are in the fray. Water supply, sealing, developing basic amenities, infrastructure are some of the key issues that is going to be a decisive factors in electing parliamentarians. All the candidates of three major parties — the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, in the national Capital pulled up their socks raising local issues to turn voters in their favour. In a separate constituency based manifesto issued by the respective candidates also suggested way to address these issues affected the residents directly.
know your constituency
Chandni Chowk
In this constituency issues that dominating the poll discourse include the Goods and Services Tax (GST), demonetisation, bad infrastructure, irregular water supply and the sealing drive.
A large section of people in this constituency are affected of these issues and claiming to elect the candidate who has potential to address these issue on priority basis.
Law and order is also one of the issues in the constituency.
Residents said that chain snatching and harassment of women are common and it must be addressed on priority basis.
With 15,62,268 voters, Chandni Chowk is the smallest parliamentary constituency in Delhi in terms of electorate.
The constituency comprising 10 Assembly segments — Adarsh Nagar, Shalimar Bagh, Shakur Basti, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal and Ballimaran.
Traders and Muslim votes will hold the key.
In 2008, when a delimitation exercise was undertaken, several North Delhi neighbourhoods such as Model Town, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Shalimar Bagh and Shakur Basti were made part of this constituency, which accounted for about 15 per cent Muslim voters that was 30 per cent before delimitation.
The percentage of voters of the SC and OBCs has gone up to about 25 and 20 respectively post delimitation while the Vaish community accounts for 10 per cent voters.
The constituency is witnessing a three-corner fight between the BJP, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. Incumbent BJP MP Harsh Vardhan is pitted against Congress’ old-timer JP Agarwal, who represented the seat in 1984, 1989 and 1996.
east delhi
High-octane political battle is expected in East Delhi constituency among the AAP’s ‘education reformer’ Atishi, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and turncoat Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress.
Gambhir, the new entrant in the political pitch attacked the rivals AAP and Congress. Gambhir was severe in his attack on AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his persistent demand full statehood Delhi.
After the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, East Delhi parliamentary the constituency was divided into ten Vidhan Sabha segments namely Jangpura, Okhla, Trilokpuri, Kondli, Patparganj, Laxmi Nagar, Vishwas Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Shahdara.
In 2014 Lok Sabha election, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Maheish Girri had won the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of 1,90,463 votes.
The East Delhi seat has seen some of the biggest names of Delhi politics fight elections. These include former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and her son Sandeep Dikshit. The seat was formed in 1966 and witnessed its first election in 1967.
south delhi
In South Delhi constituency, caste and community are playing an important role. Keeping the caste arithmetic, the Congress has fielded champion boxer Vijender Singh — who is a Jat and also won bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He will take on BJP’s sitting MP Ramesh Bidhuri also a Gujjar and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Raghav Chadha who belongs to a Punjabi community. The Gujjars and Jat voters dominate a number of Assembly segments in the seat.
The seat is witnessing a triangular contest among AAP’s Raghav Chadha, sitting BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress’ Vijender Singh. The AAP, which is seeking to wrest the seat from the BJP, has been raising local issues before the people.
The constituency has a total of 42 villages out of which 18 are dominated by Jats and 12 by the Gujjar community. Gujjars are predominantly present in Chhatarpur, Badarpur and Tughlakabad areas while Jats also have a sizeable presence in the villages bordering West Delhi constituency.
Problems faced
Water supply remains one of the biggest concerns for the residents of South Delhi. Some places in Mehrauli, Chattarpur and Sangam Vihar still experience water scarcity. While the people admit that the supply has improved a lot over the last two years, yet, they say, a lot remains to be done
While political parties are raising the issues of nationalism, unemployment and full statehood status for Delhi, the residents of the high-profile constituency insist that they need someone who takes care of their day-to-day problems first.
While people admit that the supply has improved a lot over the last two years, yet, they say, a lot remains to be done.
The civic issue of parking and traffic congestion in the heavily-populated constituency also weigh on people’s mind. Many complain about the unending jams that they have to negotiate, especially during rush hour, and say these matters haven’t been paid heed to.
It has 10 Assembly segments — Chattarpur, Palam, Bijwasan, Kalkaji, Mehrauli, Deoli, Ambedkar Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Tughlaqabad and Badarpur.
The constituency currently has 20,65,755 voters. A split in the vote bank between Congress and AAP and a new face of Congress Vijender Singh gives BJP an edge in the constituency. While AAP’s vote share has registered a decline in elections held since 2015, Congress’ has been growing slowly. AAP and Congress largely depend on similar vote bases — Muslims, Dalits and those living in unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters among others. It is the same vote bank which propelled AAP to power with an unprecedented mandate in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.
north east
North-East constituency, a stronghold of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and erstwhile Jan Sangh since its formation in 1966, is headed for an interesting but tough battle among the sitting MP Manoj Tiwari of the BJP and former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. AAP’s Dilip Pandey is also in the fray. The constituency boasts of a sizeable number of Hindu and Muslim votes. The Purvanchalis also have a formidable presence with 40 per cent voters.
Tiwari, the Bhojpuri film star, commands a strong following among Purvanchali voters and had won comfortably in 2014. However, with the arrival of Sheila Dikshit, the contest has queered the pitch for the Delhi State BJP president.
The constituency comprises 10 Assembly segments - Burari, Timarpur, Seemapuri, Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur, Ghonda, Babarpur, Gokalpur, Mustafabad and Karawal Nagar and has 19,57,707 number of voters in which 40 per cent voters are Poorvanchalis. Interestingly, out of the ten Assembly seats, nine has AAP MLAs.
The Pioneer visited these areas to read the mood of the voters and found that Poorvanchalis are sure of to whom they want to win the seat but others were waiting till the last to clear the air over the selection of the candidate to cast their vote. In some of the Assembly constituencies such as Seelampur, Babarpur and Mustafabad, Hindu voters appear to be inclined towards the BJP but Muslim voters are divided as to whom they should support.
However, these voters in Timarpur, Burari and Gokalpur favoured AAP, citing the development works carried out by the party in the area but they said they will decide a day before the election about to whom they are going to support.
The constituency has a large population of Muslims and after that comes Brahmin in the area and Purvanchalies. AAP and Congress largely depend on similar vote bases - Muslims, Dalits and those living in unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters among others.
It is the same vote bank which propelled AAP to power with an unprecedented mandate in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections but with alliance between the two failed to materialised; it may divide the votes between the AAP and the Congress which will benefit Manoj Tiwari. Though all the parties have termed election as non-caste but in the fray to win battle AAP has also fielded Dilip Pandey who is also from Purvanchal.
The BJP candidate is riding on the support of the Purvanchalis voters which is more than 40 per cent in this constituency.
Further division of Muslim votes and those living in juggi clusters will directly benefit BJP. Whereas the AAP candidate Pandey also has a share of the purvanchalies votes in the area votes.
However, with Sheila Dikshit’s entry into fray has made the contest triangular. Seelampur, Babarpur and Mustafabad have a sizeable Muslim population. AAP and Congress candidates have launched a massive door to door contact to lure voters to cast their votes in their favour.
new delhi
The main issue in this constituency is sealing drive which was conducted by the Municipal Corporations on the direction of Supreme Court Monitoring Committee.
It largely affected traders and all the party’s candidate have promised in its manifestoes to address sealing issue after voted as an MP.
Besides, water supply and dysfunctional street lights and traffic chaos are other issues that the residents are suffering from.
The constituency which houses the residences and workplaces of all the key departments of the country has a number of local issues to deal with prominently.
New Delhi constituency was formed in 1951, is the oldest of the seven constituencies of Delhi with 16,17,470 voters. It comprises 10 assembly seats Karol Bagh (SC), Patel Nagar (SC), Moti Nagar, Delhi Cantt, Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, R.K. Puram, Greater Kailash.
Congress Ajay Maken, BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi and AAP’s Brijesh Goyal are in fray from the seat.
West delhi
Political parties in the national Capital have blamed each other for playing caste and community cards during elections but the reality is that caste affiliations of voters as well as candidates seem to play a crucial role in the Delhi politics despite the political party’s campaigns hinging upon issues such as infrastructure development, price rise, water crisis and corruption. Going by caste arithmetic in the West Delhi constituency, communities such as Jat, Gujjar, Punjabi, Sikh and Vaish continue to dominate area’s electoral fortunes.
There are two Jat candidates — Parvesh Varma from BJP and Balbir Singh Jhakhar from AAP. Congress has fielded Purvanchali candidate Mahabal Mishra who had won this seat in 2009. Purvanchali, Jat, Sikh and Punjabi voters will ultimately decide the outcome.
It is believed that the Jat votes may split. “Purvanchalis who form a formidable vote block, too, can split, mainly between Congress and BJP. Earlier, the constituency was considered to be very important for the Jats, when Sajjan Kumar, a former Congress leader, was in power. Later, Purvanchali voters became a vital part of the West Delhi seat,” said a political analyst.
After the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, West Delhi was constituted with 10 Assembly segments-Madipur, Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Matiala and Najafgarh.
West Delhi has a population of 25.43 lakh and a population density of 19,563 inhabitants per square kilometer. While neighbourhoods such as Dwarka, Janakpuri and Rajouri Garden are considered affluent and middle class, areas such as Madipur, Hari Nagar and Matiala are considered home to migrants and working-class families who live in unauthorised colonies whereas Najafgarh is considered as a place where one can see a glimpse of rural areas.
Pockets such as Rajouri Garden, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri and Hari Nagar have a large Sikh population, while Jharoda, Dichaun Kalan, and Dhansa are Jat strongholds.
Varma, the son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Varma, belongs to the Jat community and the party believes it would help him win a second term but Jakhar, who also belongs to Jat community, is a native of Mitraon village in Najafgarh area in the constituency. Though Both Varma and Jhakhar does not give much weight to the caste but the reality is that the constituency which has also a strong hold of Jats in several areas may see vote division. Whereas, Congress candidate Mishra, a migrant is banking on Purvanchali voters to repeat his 2009 performance. According to political pundits, the Purvanchali votes also divided here between Congress and BJP.
Though, the economic and cultural make of the area is varied but the demands of people are largely the same which we can see in other six Lok Sabha constituency in National Capital. The residents of Dwarka rued lack of water and connectivity in the area.
North West
North West (NW) Delhi reserved constituency has over 23 lakh voters, the Scheduled Castes and Jats are the two big communities here. Much of the constituency has a rural character, with thousands of migrant workers living in unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters and slums spread across Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri, Sultanpur Majra. While Jats form a large vote bank, the middle and upper-middle classes have a presence in areas like Rohini.
The constituency comprises large rural belts where locals rely on dairy farming and traditional farming and has three types of residents — original habitants who rely on farming, migrant population, comprising rickshaw pullers and industrial workers and the set of people who reside in housing societies that have sprung up in the last few years in Rohini.
NW Delhi constituency came into existence in 2008 as a part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002. This constituency is reserved for the candidates belonging to the Scheduled castes. NW Lok Sabha constituency comprises of ten Vidhan Sabha segments such as Narela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Mundka, Kirari, Sultan Pur Majra, Nangloi Jat, Mangol Puri and Rohini.
Congress has fielded Rajesh Lalothia, Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Gugan Singh whereas Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Hans Raj Hans is also in the fray.
Other than Rohini and limited areas in North West where there is Delhi Metro connectivity, civic issues plague most portions of this constituency. Haphazard, unplanned development has created its own problems too, especially in rural and unauthorised areas.
There is, therefore, a sense of unhappiness across the 10 assembly segments that make up the seat: Narela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Mundka, Kirari, Sultan Pur Majra, Nangloi Jat, Mangol Puri and Rohini.
In 2014, BJP’s candidate Udit Raj bested AAP’s Rakhi Birla by over one lakh votes. Former Union minister and Congress leader Krishna Tirath, ran in third, while BSP’s Basant Panwar got 21,485 votes. The result this year could parallel the last election’s.
While the candidates are promising to resolve all issues in the constituency but the residents says otherwise. The rural population rued about the lack of sanitation facilities which also mean that there is a threat to women when they step out to attend nature’s call, which is either early in the morning or late in the evening.
The constituency has a sizeable SC population, with the roughly 19.1 percent. According to CEO data, NW Delhi constituency has 23,77,604 electors in the constituency — 13,04,555 (men); 10,72,891 (women) and 158 (third gender). The number of electors in some of the other constituencies are — West Delhi (23,67,509); North East Delhi (22,89,493); South Delhi (20,65,755).