In Faridabad, candidates focus on urban areas

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, May 6

The campaign for the Lok Sabha elections has entered the final phase and the candidates are now focusing mainly on urban voters. Ninety per cent of the voters in the four of the nine Assembly segments in the Faridabad parliamentary constituency are located in urban areas.

“The candidates of all main parties are holding 12 to 20 meetings every day as only four days are left for the campaign period to end,” says Mandeep Singh, a political analyst. Though the candidates aspire to cover every part of the constituency, they are ensuring that they or their close family members visit at least once every colony or village so that people do not complain of their absence,’’ he claims.

Varun Sheokand, a social activist, says that the candidates have been marking their presence more in urban areas compared to in rural parts due to the concentration of voters in Faridabad city. “There are several colonies in the city where the population is over 40,000,” he says, adding that the voters of these areas can make a difference in the victory margin of any candidate.

Around 70 per cent of the voters in this Lok Sabha constituency (having nine Assembly segments falling in Faridabad and Palwal districts) live in urban areas. Faridabad, Ballabgarh, NIT and Badkhal are urban segments with 90 per cent voter concentration. While the polling percentage in rural segments such as Hodal and Hathin tends to remain between 70 per cent and 80 per cent, it is between 50 per cent and 60 per cent in urban areas.

While the Tigaon Assembly segment with 50 per cent rural voters has the highest number of electorate (289,439), the Hodal seat in Palwal district has the lowest number of voters (175,719). The total number of voters in the Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency is 20,66,511 — 11,37,810 male and 928,701 female.