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Delhi polls: AAP faces Vishwas Nagar jinx

ByAlok KN Mishra
Feb 04, 2025 05:48 AM IST

AAP aims for victory in Vishwas Nagar, a BJP stronghold, with candidate Deepak Singhal, amid local issues like pollution and crime affecting voters.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested its first election in 2013, and immediately formed the government — albeit a short-lived one — with outside support from the Congress. In the next two polls, the party swept the Capital, winning more than 60 out of the 70 assembly seats in the city.

Garbage spilled in the open, along with puddles on the broken road patch, in Bhikam Singh Colony. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo) PREMIUM
Garbage spilled in the open, along with puddles on the broken road patch, in Bhikam Singh Colony. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

However, 12 years and three assembly elections later, there is only one constituency where the party and its convener Arvind Kejriwal has never tasted victory — Vishwas Nagar in east Delhi.

One of the more popular residential areas in the trans-Yamuna region of Delhi, the constituency comprises the middle- and upper-middle class neighbourhoods of Preet Vihar, Anand Vihar, IP Extension, Jagriti Enclave, Swastha Vihar, Pushpanjali, Bahubali Enclave, and Ram Vihar. Other localities include the villages of Karkardooma, Ghazipur, and Hasanpur, along with the slum clusters of Arya Nagar and Harijan Basti.

According to the final electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India, the seat has 204,780 voters — 108,057 male, 96,714 female, and 9 third gender electors.

This year, the AAP hopes that the fourth time’s the charm, and has fielded local businessman Deepak Singhal, 38, from the seat. But the going will not be easy —Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate OP Sharma won the seat in the 2013, 2015, and 2020 elections, and has turned a constituency that traditionally voted for the Congress into a BJP stronghold. The third candidate in the triangular contest is Rajiv Chaudhary, 57, of the Congress.

The contestants

Sharma is in certain circles considered a shoo-in for the seat — in 2015, during the peak of AAP’s popularity, he managed to win Vishwas Nagar by more than 10,000 votes. The BJP leader only bettered his margin in 2020, winning by more than 16,000 votes.

He is banking on his connection with the people in the area. OP Sharma said he has overseen works worth 8,000 crore in the constituency over the past five years.

“The area does have issues of water and sewer overflow. When Delhi gets a double engine government, the issues of water and sewer overflow will be fixed on a war footing,” he said.

However, Sharma’s three consecutive terms have also opened him wide for anti-incumbency.

Deepak Singhal said that the area is replete with issues. “The MLA did no work for the people. In fact, he did not come to find out what the problems people are facing. After I win the election, I will fix the water problem on a priority basis. The AAP is going to form the next government in Delhi, so if the people elect an AAP MLA from Vishwas Nagar, he will be able to get their problems solved on a priority basis,” said Singhal.

Meanwhile, Congress candidate Rajiv Chaudhary has been a party functionary for decades, even serving as its Shahdara district president. He is believed to have a strong grip over the local Congress unit, and is utilising the party’s organisational strength to swing the outcome of the election in his favour. No comments were available from Chaudhary despite HT reaching out to him.

The Electorate

Vishwas Nagar, which is part of the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, is located along the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, with certain parts overlooking the garbage mountain at the Ghazipur landfill site.

It has a diverse demography: voters are a mix of various communities — western Uttar Pradesh, Punjabi, and Haryanvi, along with scattered pockets of Purvanchalis, Bengalis, and Malayalees. According to estimates by political parties, most of the electors are Hindu — largely Brahmin and Baniya — with a substantial presence of Muslims.

Certain localities have a sizable population of one community — for example, Guru Angad Nagar has a large number of Sikhs. Meanwhile, Dalits, OBCs, and other marginalised communities are scattered across the constituency.

Voters’ issues

The significant population of the constituency — paired with footfall-heavy institutions such as Karkardooma Court, Yamuna Sports Complex, IP University, and Anand Vihar railway station — means the area faces a range of challenges, from damaged roads, sanitation, encroachment, parking issues, and sewage overflow.

The biggest issue for parts of the area is the presence of the Ghazipur landfill site. Rajiv Sharma, chairman of the Wholesale Paper Market, Ghazipur, said that due to the landfill site, the ground water in the area has become polluted. “The air is so foul that people cannot move around without covering their mouth and nose. The work on flattening the landfill site has slowed down as no party is bothered about the people living around,” he said.

Another issue that residents face is traffic congestion: one of the busiest roads of Delhi — Vikas Marg — bisects the constituency almost evenly, while a recent spike in rising crime rates has alarmed voters.

Abhishek Sharma, a resident of Pushpanjali Colony, said Vikas Marg is encroached upon by roadside stalls. “The encroachment is causing traffic congestion and leads to hours being lost in traffic jams. The problem of stray cattle is also a big menace,” he said.

Vinod Kumar Pandey, a resident of Surajmal Vihar, said incidents of snatching have increased in recent times.

“We cannot take a stroll in the residential areas without fear due to various incidents of mobile and chain-snatching in the area. We appeal to our politicians to pay attention to law-and-order,” he said.

Meanwhile, the biggest issue in the slum cluster of Arya Nagar is dirty water.

“Throughout the year the water supply remains an issue, sometimes the water is dirty and the other time there is water supply blackout,” said Nikhil Kumar Sharma, a resident.

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