Stage set for a pitched battle among heavy weights in N-E Delhi

New Delhi: North East constituency is one of the seventh Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, dotted by JJ clusters, highest among the national capital. Sadly the constituency also stands in the last rank in terms of human development indicators in the city. Around 300 out of 800 slum clusters are located in the east and north east Delhi areas such as Seelampur, Gokulpur and Karawal Nagar among the most dense populated zones.

However, the North East constituency also has urban pocket like Yamuna Vihar, Timarpur, Harsh Vihar and Dilshad Garden. The constituency wiil see a pitched battle between heavy weight politicians like Delhi Pradesh Congress Committe President Sheila Dikshit, Delhi's BJP President and sitting MP Manoj Tiwari and Aam Aadmi Party's National Spokesperson Dilip Pandey. N-E parliamentary seat, which is densely populated beacuse of porus border with Uttar Pradesh has around a total of 22.80 lakh voters, in which 12.47 lakhs are male and 10.32 lakhs female. Third gender voters are 99 in number and around 41,693 voters come from the age bar between 18 and 19 years.

Traffic woes, sanitation and rising crime in the areas falling under North East Delhi has emerged as the crucial poll issues in the upcoming lok Sabha elections. As one travels through the district, different priorities emerge, with residents of slum clusters and unauthorised colonies stressing on the need to improve the basic amanities, while relatively leaders are addressing these issues since long. However, all the major political parties in fray are promising to address these issues by pledging to build elevated corridors, flyovers and improve the dilapidated conditions of roads.

Dr Sumit Goyal, hailing from West Jyoti Nagar, said that "Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the country is safe. You better tell, who is the successor after him. Whereas, Shahid Mirza, resident in Mustafabad, said that this time, we will vote only for the party which gives us concrete proof that they will do something for the sanitation problem and road connectivity.

Few months earlier, the Delhi BJP chief and area MP Manoj Tiwari, who is one of the candidates shortlisted by BJP for the constituency, is trying to gain the score over its recent foundation laying for the national Highway 709-B ( Connecting Akshardam in Delhi to Saharanpur in UP) as his major achievement. The project will provide the seamless connectivity between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and this NH 709 will help unclog these areas, simultaneously, easing the lives of the residents living nearby.

The Pusta Road in district is dotted with a large number of unauthorised colonies and slum clusters on either side of the road, which lead to traffic snarls most of the time. Locals informed that crawling traffic has been a major concern for them for years. However, the problem has been aggravated with the opening of the Eastern peripheral expressway last year as the interstate vehicular load has increased multiple times.

Moreover, AAP candidate said in the roadshows that AAP is also proposing for a signal-free elevated corridor from Bhajanpua to Bhopura border. "It will play a major role in easing traffic and wiil also a connecting with Uttar Pradesh," said AAP candidate. Furthermore, he also addressed the gathering while saying that one of the major breakthroughs of our party was the construction of signature bridge, which is a blessing for commuters crossing parts of north-east Delhi. In near future, residents will see more flyovers and corridors in the constituency soon.

Many voters from the Jafrabad, Seelampur and Mustafabad believe that the way former CM Sheila Dikshit performed during her three-term tenure as Chief Minister and worked for the development of the areas, there are high chances that she will win the mandate again. Somehow, during her 15-year tenure, Dikshit addressed the problem of traffic, built many flyovers, connecting Pusta Road and developed the conditon of the North East Delhi.

This N-E constituency covers some areas of Delhi's entire North East, Central Delhi District and some areas of Shahdara district. Ten Assembly seats, including Gokalpuri, Ghonda, Seelampur, Rohtas Nagar, Babarpur, Karawal Nagar, Timarpur and Mustafabad, fall under this constituency.