North West Delhi makes room for political turncoats

It is the only seat in the national capital reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate; has the largest number of voters at roughly 24 lakh

April 30, 2019 07:30 am | Updated 07:38 am IST - New Delhi

Political turncoats prominently feature across party lines in the North West Delhi constituency, the only seat reserved for a person from a Scheduled Caste (SC) community in Delhi and carrying the largest number of voters at close to 24 lakh.

The current Member of Parliament from the area, Udit Raj, left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined Congress last week, when he was not given a ticket. While the Congress is fielding Rajesh Lilothia, who has previously fought Assembly election from Patel Nagar for the party, Mr. Raj said that he would actively campaign for Congress.

The BJP’s nominee, Punjabi sufi singer Hans Raj Hans from Jalandar, has had political stints with the Shiromani Akali Dal and was briefly with the Congress in 2016. And the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gugan Singh switched from the BJP after the Bawana Assembly bypolls in 2017.

However for most people voting in the constituency, whom The Hindu spoke to, the focus in the upcoming elections was not on local representatives.

‘Nothing will change’

“Regardless of whom we vote for, our lives are going to stay the same,” says Srimati Kamladevi, a resident of Harijan Colony in Sultanpuri, echoing a common view among members of her community. The constituency has a sizeable SC population, with the roughly corresponding North West District recording 19.1% SC population, according to the 2011 Census.

“Only if you work for yourself will you get ahead in life,” she believes. She, however, says she will cast her vote “because it is her right”. Ms. Devi and her neighbours say they will vote for AAP because the Arvind Kejirwal government has helped reduce electricity rates and water charges. While she dismisses the Prime Minister as “a liar”, she says that Congress is not all that bad. “It is because of them that we have these houses right now. Many of the residents in the area were shifted here during the Indira Gandhi regime,” she said.

For several voters, the recent air strikes in Balakot were a highlight.

Neha Chawla, a resident of Rohini, says she is upset that nothing is being done about the rising rates of private schooling, but the response given to the Pulwama attack was unprecedented and something that instilled confidence in the Prime Minister for her.

Mahesh Kapoor, a tailor from Rithala, concurs. “So many incidents happened, like 26/11, but we never had a strong response,” said Mr. Kapoor, who is of the opinion that while Mr. Modi should be in power at the Centre, AAP is doing a good job in Delhi, adding that he will support AAP in the Assembly election.

Ram Narayan (68) was among several people resettled from Minto Road in 2001 to Narela’s Sector 10, a colony now largely occupied by migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who cater to the nearby industrial area. With streets filled with uncollected garbage and drains filled to the brim, residents say that the leaders elected from the area have neglected their concerns. Mr. Narayan, being a long-time Congress supporter, says he will once again vote for the party.

In Buddh Vihar, Kisan Kumar, a labourer, repeats a common refrain and says: “Regardless of whom we vote for nothing is going to change for us.” He says he will vote depending on the conversations that take place in his community.

In Narela’s Singhola village, dominated by the members of the Jat community, especially given its proximity to Haryana, Kamal Singh, a pastoralist, is upset with the BJP. “Where is the ₹15 lakh we were promised?” He is unhappy with AAP as well, which, he says, has not done anything for the area. “A Chief Minister need not create a scene out of every little issue,” Mr. Singh says.

Naresh Kumar, a local BJP worker from Narela, said that the party’s main contender in the area was Gugan Singh from AAP, who, he says, has started undertaking grass-roots work since the time he left the BJP. Mr. Naresh says that with Mr. Raj joining Congress to campaign for them, a stronger Congress will help the party’s chances as it will cut the anti-BJP vote.

Vote share in 2014:

Udit Raj (BJP)46.45%
Rakhi Birla (AAP)38.57%
Krishna (INC)11.61%

 

Figures in 2019:

Total number of voters in Delhi1,43,27,458
Total number of voters in North-West Delhi23,78,984
Male voters13,04,555
Female voters10,72,891
Third gender158

 

 

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