North-east Delhi is set to witness a fierce electoral battle between Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari and his Congress counterpart Sheila Dikshit, with AAP candidate Dilip Pandey being the third major candidate in this Lok Sabha constituency.
Tiwari is the incumbent BJP MP in the constituency which has a significant rural belt. Following the delimitation exercise in 2008, a large number of villages and unauthorised colonies have been part of the constituency.
A Congress heavyweight, Dikshit had been a three-time Delhi chief minister. Her bid to join the fray has turned the upcoming Lok Sabha polls into a keen triangular contest here.
The constituency comprises of 10 Assembly segments including Burari, Timarpur, Seemapuri, Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur, Ghonda, Babarpur, Gokulpur, Mustafabad, and Karawal Nagar.
It accounts for a diverse electorate comprising of Gujjars, Sikhs, backward castes, Muslims, and Purvanchalis (people from eastern UP and Bihar). The constituency also has an estimated 16.82 per cent Scheduled Caste population.
Every party seems to be wooing Purvanchalis besides reaching out to other communities here. The North-east Delhi constituency has over 22 lakh voters, according to the Delhi poll body’s figures. It has a literacy rate of about 84 per cent.
In the 2014 general election, Tiwari had won from the constituency by defeating the AAP’s Anand Kumar by about 1.5 lakh votes. The Congress had won the seat in 2009. The voter turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections here was 67.32 per cent.
The constituency has been reeling under lack of infrastructure development; with barely any notable development taking place here even during the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 when other parts of the national capital witnessed a massive make-over.
For public transport, the residents of this constituency have been dependent on overloaded and shared rickety auto-rickshaws. Many roads are covered by street hawkers. The water, sewage, and sanitation problems dominate the concerns of non-regularised colonies.
A slew of local people say development, unemployment and the crime issue would weigh heavily on their minds when they step out to vote on 12 May.
Speaking to this correspondent, a group of people at a tea stall at Tahirpur in the Seemapuri Assembly segment expressed their grievances, maintaining that the local AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam and BJP MP Tiwari have “not done anything” here over the last four-five years.
They complained that the local MLA and the MP have not even found time to visit their area. “This is an area where no politician ever comes to take stock of the situation. The area is racked by various crimes including missing children and the menace of people taking liquor at public places,” said Raghav, 40.
A rickshaw-puller Mohammed Naeem complained, “We were getting benefits of Ladli Yojna during the previous Congress regime, which the AAP government is not continuing. People are not happy with the AAP and the BJP.”
At Dilshad Colony, a tailor Parvez, who stitches clothes in a tiny shop, vented his frustration while highlighting the lack of civic amenities in the area. “The sewers are choked with waste materials thrown by people and the sanitation workers working under the BJP-ruled civic bodies are not cleaning it.”
However, another local resident Sushila dismissed such grievances and said there were “no issues”. “We are happy with the work of our MP Manoj Tiwari,” she said. The caste equation and the Narendra Modi factor are also among the major issues that will determine the outcome of a triangular fight in this constituency.
AAP candidate Pandey has been going all out to attack the BJP leadership, whether local or national. “BJP and its present leadership of Modi and Shah don’t have faith in the Constitution. They have ruined all institutions of the country. It is very important to defeat them in order to save the country at any cost. AAP will leave no stone unturned to defeat the fascist forces,” he has said.
Pandey also alleged that the BJP’s seven MPs have “done nothing” for the residents of the national capital. When the people of Delhi needed their MPs, they turned their back on them, he charged. “The people of the Northeast Delhi want change, they want an MP for their area who will become their voice in Parliament, who understand their misery. This time the people of the North-east don’t want a big person but someone who is their own,” he said.
Dikshit has maintained that “People should only vote for the party, which addresses the problems that affect their daily life ~ and that party is only the Congress.”
Tiwari has however maintained that “The country needs a mazboot (strong) government, not a majboor (helpless) government.”
“The people have resolved to bring back Narendra Modi as next Prime Minister of the country,” he said, exuding confidence.