RK Puram: Home to bureaucrats, ultra-rich but candidates fight over JJ Colony votes

New Delhi: From 1964 onwards, the Central government agencies began acquiring large tracts of land from the villages of Munirka, Mohammadpur, Nanakpura that was purchased at Rs 5000 per acre. It is on these lands today where Vasant Vihar, 12 sectors of RK- Puram, Satya Niketan some sectors of Vasant Kunj and even Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have come up.

As the constituency has progressed over the years so has its problems.In an area where top echelons of not only Delhi but the country resides the other side of the growth is a large number of JJ clusters that have come up in the area. It is estimated that there are over 50,000 slums in the RK Puram constituency. Most of it though illegal have been set up for more than 40 years and have grown to such extent that there are also tenants who are living in these colonies

It is voters in these cluster colonies which the political parties are trying to win over. While the AAP government is emphasising on its works on improving the state of education, health, water, and power, the BJP is aggressively pushing its plank of regularising the illegal colonies. The other party in the fray which is the Congress is banking on the loyalty of old voters who reside in these colonies.

Ram Tokas from Munirka voices his disappointment of how the politics of undue favour by the politicians over the years to the slum dwellers is now resulting in a major resentment.

"In today's time it has become difficult to construct a house in the urbanised villages. The circle rates today of 100 square yard plot is Rs 42,000 on top of it you need to pay 8 percent duties to the government. If these charges were not enough, the person in Munirka is paying the same property tax as the one in Vasant Vihar.

In comparison, the slum cluster colonies today are not only expanding but without registry are adding floors and getting tenants and are not being penalised for it," said Tokas who now resides in Gurugram.

Other major problems in the constituency includes depleting groundwater reserves, poor drainage systems, inadequate transport system and poor facilities for pedestrians. In an area where some of the most brutal crimes against women have occurred on the streets, there are also demands to install more CCTV cameras and reduce the number of dark zones.

There are a total of 1.49 lakh voters in the constituency. The male voters are 84, 903 and females electorate is 65,648.

At 38 percent, Jats from the dominant category of voters. Among the jats, the major clans located in the constituency are Tokas who form the largest group, Rathi, Dagar, and Tomar form the other part of clans. Other major categories of voters include Valmiki's (10 percent ), pandits (6 percent ) and Muslims ( 4 percent).

There are a total of 7 candidates that are in the fray to win the RK Puram seat. BJP has fielded Anil Kumar Sharma has won two times as an SDMC councilor from the constituency. He has also served as Deputy Mayor. In 2013 he narrowly won on BJP ticket against Shazia Ilmi who contested from AAP that year. He was however defeated convincingly by AAP's Pramila Tokas who has won with the 58 percent vote share.

Pramila and her husband Neeraj Tokas has a strong supporter base in Munirka which is the largest village among the Jat villages.

Not to be left out of race is INC's Priyanka Singh who is the daughter of veteran Delhi Congress leader Yoganand Shastri. Shastri who is the former MLA from neighbouring Mehrauli has strong backing from the Jats and that is expected to favour Singh.

Whether it is the ultra-rich or a person living in the slums, the main demand of the voters are to ensure the equitable and fair development of the constituency.