New Delhi: Shastri Park, which is a neighbourhood located in the North-East district of Delhi, comes under Gandhi Nagar constituency. The name of the area is dedicated to freedom fighter Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Interestingly, Shastri Park is also the location of one of the first Metro station in the national Capital. According to the 2011 census, NorthEast Delhi has a population of 2,241,624 of which male and female were 1,188,425 and 1,053,199 respectively. Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely had won from the constituency from 2008 to 2013 consecutively. He is also the candidate from the grand old party this time as well. In the last election held in 2015, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Anil Kumar Bajpai had won the seat. He later joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shastri Park, which has narrow lanes and roads made out of potholes, is an area crippling with issues such as unemployment and no proper education.
One 60-year-old Biba Khatoon sits near her home looking over as Congress candidate Lovely, conducts his really in the area, ahead of Delhi assembly elections. Khatoon is a housewife, who has five kids and worked as a daily wage years back.
Khatoon along with other ladies in the area was talking about the issues prevailing in the area. On approaching them Khatoon said, "Now it feels like elections are here."
"People are mostly turning towards AAP, especially since the free electricity and water provided to them. People's mood changed after that," she said. However, her friend standing beside her begs to differ. "Congress is coming back," she announced.
"It was Congress who has developed everything in the area and one should remember that," she said pointing towards the narrow streets of Shastri Park. The election excitement was visible on people's faces but Khatoon looked perplexed. "Poor people are taken advantage of. We need food to eat, a proper job and shelter, that's it. However, right now we don't even feel safe anymore," Khatoon said in reference to Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
People in the area have stated that unemployment is one major issue. "My son has no job, he does small daily wage work to sustain us," said Hiba. "We want jobs for our children, we want proper education for them," she added.
On the other hand, an auto worker in the area, when asked about the political wave in the area said, "People are inclined towards AAP. What poor people care about is basic necessities and Kejriwal's government has provided us with that," he said.
In the upcoming Delhi Assembly election, the key candidates in the Gandhi Nagar constituency are Naveen Chou-dhary (Deepu) of AAP, Anil Kumar Bajpai BJP and Arvinder Singh Lovely of Congress.