Rajinder Nagar bypolls to be held on June 23, result on June 26

The seat was vacated after the sitting MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party, Raghav Chadha, was nominated to the Rajya from Punjab where the AAP won assembly elections in March.

By-elections to the Rajinder Nagar assembly constituency in Delhi will be held on June 23 and the counting will take place on June 26, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.

In a press statement, the Election Commission announced bypolls to fill vacancies in 10 parliamentary and assembly seats across six states, including Rajinder Nagar. (pic for representation)

The seat was vacated after the sitting MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party, Raghav Chadha, was nominated to the Rajya from Punjab where the AAP won assembly elections in March.

In a press statement, the commission announced bypolls to fill vacancies in 10 parliamentary and assembly seats across six states, including Rajinder Nagar.

The statement said that votes will be counted on June 26 and the notification for the bypolls will be issued on May 30. With Wednesday’s announcement, the model code of conduct has come into force in all the constituencies where bypolls are going to be held.

In 2020 Delhi assembly elections, Chadha won the seat by a large margin of 20,058 votes against his rival RP Singh of the BJP. The Congress had fielded student leader Rocky Tuseed from the seat.

The BJP had won the seat in 1998 and 2003 elections. The Congress candidate won the seat in 2008, but the BJP won again in 2013. However, the AAP won the seat in both 2015 and 2020 assembly polls.

The the BJP has launched a campaign to expose alleged failures of the Delhi government, and the AAP has appointed Durgesh Pathak as the election in-charge of the assembly constituency.

With nearly 41% families in the area belonging to the Punjabi community, the Rajinder Nagar assembly segment was once one of the colonies developed by the government to rehabilitate Punjabi refugees after the Partition. The constituency was named after India’s first president Rajendra Prasad.

The constituency has a mix of middle and upper middle income group families in localities such as the New Rajendra Nagar, Old Rajendra Nagar and Pandav Nagar. The seat has three designated village as well -- Dasgarha (dominated by Jats), Todapur (Yadav majority) and Naraina (mixed demography).

It also has 12 slums, the prominent ones being Sonia Gandhi camp, Bihari Colony and Rajiv Gandhi camp.

While a few pockets in New Rajendra Nagar (R-block, double storey) have traditionally been BJP stronghold, several neighbourhoods such as Old Rajendra Nagar, Pandav Nagar, Inderpuri and Naraina Vihar have seen a change in the demography over the years. Several families living these areas are tenants households, and this is marked by a rise in the Purvanchali voters (people from eastern UP and Bihar).