Caste to be decisive factor in elections to NW Delhi seat

Caste will play a major role in the Jatav dominated reserved Northwest Delhi seat where Congress nominee and community leader Krishna Tirath has a clear edge over BJP candidate Meera Kanwaria, a Raigar, in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Caste will play a major role in the Jatav dominated reserved Northwest Delhi seat where Congress nominee and community leader Krishna Tirath has a clear edge over BJP candidate Meera Kanwaria, a Raigar, in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

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The constituency has been carved out from erstwhile Outer Delhi and has assembly segments of Narela, Badli, Rohini, Bawana (reserved), Rithala, Mundka, Kirari, Sultanpuri (reserved), Nangloi Jat and Mangolpuri (reserved).

There are 24 per cent SCs mainly Jatavs, five per cent Punjabis, ten per cent Brahmins, 21 per cent OBCs, ten per cent each Vaish, Muslims and Jats in the constituency.

Congress is hopeful of winning the Lok Sabha polls from the Northwest Delhi seat as most of the assembly segments have been a stronghold of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar which will translate into Tirath's support.

Also, post-delimitation, Jatav and Balmikis who have traditionally been strong supporters of the party have polarised in this constituency.

With this strong caste-base in her favour, Tirath, a sitting MP from Karol Bagh and three time MLA is hoping to register a huge margin over Kanwaria, who is a former Delhi mayor and BJP councillor in a constituency of almost 17,94,278 voters.

"It seems the BJP has offered the Jatav dominated seat to the Congress on a platter. The party should have opted for Anita Arya who is a Jatav leader and would have given a good fight to Tirath," a senior BJP leader said. Arya, who was a sitting MP from Karol Bagh was defeated by Tirath in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.