Sadar Bazar: Ajay Maken faces stern test
3 Feb 2015 6:31 AM IST
Maken’s entry into the poll arena has made the contest a triangular one, as in December 2013 polls the assembly segment saw a direct fight between the AAP and the BJP, which the newbie party had won by a margin of over 1,000 votes.
Traders, Muslims, Scheduled Caste and OBC voters dominate the demography of Sadar Bazar seat. Barring the traders, the rest had always favoured the Congress which had resulted in the party winning the seat thrice in the past.
Gradually, the traders and the Punjabi community migrated from the congested area to other parts of Delhi and along with the delimitation, the fortunes of the BJP took a dip.
“Those who migrated from this area were traders and Punjabis who were considered a traditional vote bank of the BJP but most of them still are voters and have their shops and houses in this area,” said a trader. But during the last assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections Congress’ traditional voters – Muslims and migrant workers dumped the party and switched sides to AAP. But Maken is quite confident and told Millennium Post that: “The election screening committee decided that I fight from Sadar Bazar seat which I am sure to win. I am also taking care of 69 other seats of Delhi.”
The victory of Maken will hugely depend upon how these communities and Dalits vote in the upcoming February 7 polls. If these segments consolidate in his favour then he has bright chance but a recent rally of Arvind Kejriwal here drew huge crowds, an indication of tough time for Maken.
Interestingly, AAP had polled 34,079 votes in 2013 Delhi assembly polls but the BJP was the largest party with 50,707 votes in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The ‘Modi wave’ had propelled even a section of Dalits and OBCs to vote in favour of the saffron party in May last year but assembly polls are totally a different ball game. Sadar Bazar used to be a BJP bastion till 1998. In 2013 AAP’s Som Dutt had snatched the seat from Congress’ three-time sitting MLA Rajesh Jain. In this election most of the people want an MLA who is easily accessible and can work with them, a criterion where Maken faces a serious drawback.
BJP’s Praveen Jain is hugely depending upon the ‘Modi wave’ which has apparently weakened in the last eight months since Narendra Modi took over the reins in Delhi after a successful Lok Sabha run that saw the saffron party winning all the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats.
Traders, Muslims, Scheduled Caste and OBC voters dominate the demography of Sadar Bazar seat. Barring the traders, the rest had always favoured the Congress which had resulted in the party winning the seat thrice in the past.
Gradually, the traders and the Punjabi community migrated from the congested area to other parts of Delhi and along with the delimitation, the fortunes of the BJP took a dip.
“Those who migrated from this area were traders and Punjabis who were considered a traditional vote bank of the BJP but most of them still are voters and have their shops and houses in this area,” said a trader. But during the last assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections Congress’ traditional voters – Muslims and migrant workers dumped the party and switched sides to AAP. But Maken is quite confident and told Millennium Post that: “The election screening committee decided that I fight from Sadar Bazar seat which I am sure to win. I am also taking care of 69 other seats of Delhi.”
The victory of Maken will hugely depend upon how these communities and Dalits vote in the upcoming February 7 polls. If these segments consolidate in his favour then he has bright chance but a recent rally of Arvind Kejriwal here drew huge crowds, an indication of tough time for Maken.
Interestingly, AAP had polled 34,079 votes in 2013 Delhi assembly polls but the BJP was the largest party with 50,707 votes in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The ‘Modi wave’ had propelled even a section of Dalits and OBCs to vote in favour of the saffron party in May last year but assembly polls are totally a different ball game. Sadar Bazar used to be a BJP bastion till 1998. In 2013 AAP’s Som Dutt had snatched the seat from Congress’ three-time sitting MLA Rajesh Jain. In this election most of the people want an MLA who is easily accessible and can work with them, a criterion where Maken faces a serious drawback.
BJP’s Praveen Jain is hugely depending upon the ‘Modi wave’ which has apparently weakened in the last eight months since Narendra Modi took over the reins in Delhi after a successful Lok Sabha run that saw the saffron party winning all the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats.
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