West Delhi: AAP's Jakhar to face stiff opposition from BJP and Congress
New Delhi: With Delhi going to the polls on May 12, the fight in West Delhi will be focused between AAP's Balbir Singh Jakhar, BJP's Parvesh Verma, and Congress' Mahabal Mishra. The constituency is dominated by Sikh and Jat communities, with a sizeable Poorvanchali population. BJP' Verma took the seat from Congress' Mishra in 2014 by a margin of almost five lakh votes, with AAP coming in second. West Delhi has more than 2.03 crore electors registered to vote, and the constituecy saw a 66 percent voter turnout last time. Women turned out in large numbers
AAP's fresh face Balbir Singh Jakhar will have to go up against Parvesh Verma (BJP) and Mahabal Mishra (Congress), both of whom are tried, tested and have won at least once from the seat since it was created in 2008.
In 2009, Mishra (66) beat BJP's Jagdish Mukhi by more than one lakh votes and took the seat for his party. But, the tables were turned in the next election which saw Verma take the lead by more than two lakh votes. However, the important thing here is that in 2014, all of BJP's candidates had the "Modi wave" going for them, and Verma was no exception. In fact, he himself admitted that his victory in the last Lok Sabha elections was owing to the ray of hope that Narendra Modi was promising to bring.
Another noteworthy fact is that in 2009, AAP didn't exist. After the nascent party's entry into politics, the Delhi electorate shunned the Congress completely, which is reflected in the fact that Mishra didn't even manage to secure 15 per cent of the total votes polled in 2014. However, the constituency is home to a sizeable Poorvanchali population and given that Mishra's appeal to this particular voter base, things do seem hopeful for the veteran Congress leader. But he will face Verma (41), son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma.
The BJP seems to have considered the dominant Jat community in the constituency in deciding to field him again and he has a good chance of retaining his seat even in the absence of the "Modi wave". Moreover, the Sikh community, which is dominant in Western neighbourhoods like Rajouri Garden, Tilak Nagar, and Subhash Nagar might just decide to vote for Verma.
The Sikh community seemed to have figured into AAP's calculation in 2014 when they fielded former journalist and MLA Jarnail Singh from the seat. But that did not work in their favour. However, given the fact that two seasoned politicians such as Verma and Mishra are contesting from West Delhi, it remains to be seen how AAP's Jakhar will fare as a candidate with no history of holding public office.
The 45-year-old lawyer has been associated with AAP, since the Jan Lokpal movement that gave birth to the party itself. And even though AAP was one of the first parties to announce candidates for Delhi, Jakhar, unfortunately, missed out on his chance to start campaigning early on.
While his party members were busy hitting the streets, going door-to-door, AAP had decided to hold off announcing the West Delhi seat in hopes of a possible Congress alliance, that failed to materialise in the end. As a result, Jakhar could not capitalise on the extra campaigning time. He was announced as AAP's candidate just a month ago.
Among a host of issues in the constituency, sealing and unauthorised colonies will be two that candidates cannot deny addressing. Especially given the fact that the recent sealing operation in Mayapuri turned violent with traders in the area getting beaten up by central police authorities. This gives AAP a unique upper hand because of its full-statehood poll plank.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party could make an argument that if Delhi were to become a full state, the state government of the day would be able to reign in and exercise control over law enforcement authorities. But the BJP can also capitalise on the AAP government's seeming inaction over legitimising unauthorised colonies. '
