A tough fight ahead for AAP as hyper-local issues take centre-stage

New Delhi: A quaint residential area nestled in West Delhi, Janakpuri Assembly constituency is mostly populated with residential colonies, traders and small businesspersons. On the one hand, Janakpuri has large expanses of affluent colonies with clean roads and gated communities, where most voters — either traders, small businesspersons or professionals have lived for decades; on the other, the assembly seat is also home to hundreds of thousands of people who have migrated to the Capital years ago to make a living and have been ghettoised in neighbourhoods like Sitapuri, JJ Colony and Chanakya Place.

Despite the large differences in living standards of voters in the assembly segment, the more than 1.8 lakh voters of Janakpuri are set to vote in the upcoming Delhi polls based on local issues that affect the daily lives of all residents such as poor sanitation, sewer treatment options, drainage systems, parking, traffic congestion and deplorable road conditions in the inner-city areas.

This year the seat has about 9.9 lakh male voters, 8.8 lakh women voters and 11 from the third gender — who will choose between AAP's Rajesh Rishi, Congress' Radhika Khera and BJP's Ashish Sood in a stiff fight ahead for sitting MLA Rishi with a hint of anti-incumbency among voters of the area.

On the one hand, voters in the area are happy with the AAP-government's work in education, healthcare and power but on the other, voters also complained of an absent MLA when it came to hyper-local issues.

Small business owners complained of municipality workers disrupting their shops, while others were more concerned about the necessity for better sewer and drainage systems and roads.

Hari (26), a small roadside business-owner who has been running his shop in Janakpuri for 12 years told Millennium Post said, "They have done good work but our problems remain. We have been looking for a solution to municipality workers disrupting our business regularly and nothing has been done to address that in the last five years."

Besides, the infamous Pankha Road open drain in the area is also another major poll issue with residents. The drain on the entrance to Sitapuri and Chanakya Place-II remains open, posing a serious threat to the health of residents. Voters in the area said that they are looking for more bridges over the drain so that congestion is reduced and that proper coverage of the drain is necessary.

The Sitapuri vote — an undercurrent of fear

Meanwhile, the largely Muslim population of Sitapuri in Janakpuri has shown signs of how it is being extremely cautious in deciding to throw its weight behind the Congress party, for which they have religiously voted over the last few decades.

Muslim leaders of the area have made it clear that they are not going to support a Congress candidate who brazenly critizises the BJP without control.

"The politicians say whatever they want and leave but Hindus who get offended by it take it out on us. We have to continue living here you see," said one resident, who had just finished Friday prayers.

While they are content with Khera as the Congress candidate, residents in the area said that they are now in the middle of a balancing act and do not want to anger any of the "majority population". But voters here also stand firm that their MLA should not neglect them and should be addressing their issues of intersecting power lines, proper roads and drainage systems and adequate security.