The Congress party is likely to face a huge wave of anti-incumbency due to a resurgent BJP and AAP, which has swept away the grand old party’s traditional vote base.
The North-West Lok Sabha seat is reserved for members belonging to the Scheduled Caste community. The constituency shares its border with Haryana and migrants make up 70 per cent of the population. Migrants arrive from areas such as Haryana and Western UP and largely belong to the working class. Besides, 20 per cent of the population is made up of Poorvanchalis from Eastern UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.
The constituency comprises of areas such as Narela, Mundka, Nangloi Jat, Badli, Kirari, Mangolpuri and Rohini. After the process of Delimitation in 2008, North West Delhi was made into a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste members. Earlier it was dominated by inhabitants from the Jat, Dalit, Brahmin and Muslim communities. The seat covers over 21 lakh voters. Voters largely include Schedule Caste and Others Backward Castes, who make up for nearly 42 per cent. The Jat community makes up for 12 per cent of voters.
According to Delhi Election Office, only 30 persons have filed their nominations till last date. 27- year-old AAP leader, Rakhi Birla will take on Congress candidate Krishna Tirath and BJP’s Dalit leader Udit Raj.
In the 2009 election, Tirath had defeated BJP’s Meera Kanwaria by a margin of 1.8 lakh votes and the battle was chiefly between the Congress and the BJP. But this time AAP has emerged as a major player.
During the previous Delhi assembly elections, the Congress lost four out of 10 ten assembly seats in the North West region. The BJP also suffered, as the Rohini seat, a BJP bastion, was snatched away by AAP’s Rajesh Garg. The BJP, however, managed to capture five seats, with the Congress winning only two and AAP opening its account with two. Congress could only retain Badli and Sultanpur, whereas the BJP won five Assembly seats including Narela, Rithala, Kirari, Bawana and Nangloi Jat.
AAP’s stunning victory in the area was the defeat of Congress’s Raj Kumar Chauhan from Mangolpuri. Chauhan, a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, was defeated by AAP’s green horn Rakhi Birla. This region truly represents the rural face of Delhi. The constituency still lacks basic amenities, better roads and public transport. It has seen little growth in terms of infrastructure in the past few years, as only a few roads were laid and some good education institutes were constructed.