Polling for Rajendra Nagar assembly seat concludes

An estimated 50 per cent of the total 1.37 electorate exercised their franchise in the elections to the Rajendra Nagar constituency of Delhi Assembly.

Fifty per cent voters turned out to exercise their franchise in the Rajendra Nagar Assembly constituency on Saturday. Election to this seat had been postponed following the death of BJP candidate PC Yogi in November.

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The constituency’s rural areas, such as Naraina village, Das Ghara and Todapur, which have a sizeable slum population, witnessed heavy polling right from 8 am. At some booths, the voter turnout had touched 64 per cent by 5 pm, when polling got over.

Congress workers in the area claimed the high turnout in rural areas would benefit their party. “Congress was responsible for regularising many of these colonies. In the light of the party’s overall victory in Delhi, the area has been swept by a Congress wave,” said Ramakant Goswami, Congress candidate from the seat.

BJP, however, is hopeful that public sympathy after the death of its three-time MLA would help it retain the seat. Yogi’s wife, Asha, said, “It’s not just the sympathy factor. BJP would have won even otherwise due to all the work done in the area by my late husband.”

However, BJP’s decision to field Asha Yogi, a political novice, might work against it. Kiran Arora, a Rajendra Nagar resident, who had come to cast her vote at Salwan School, said, “She (Asha Yogi) is not at all familiar with the political process. We hardly know her. Had the election to this seat been held on November 29, things would have been different. But now, who will vote for a candidate whose party is not going to form the government?”

BJP, however, is also drawing hope from the presence of BSP in the fray. BSP has tasted success in areas with a sizeable population of scheduled castes (SC) and other backward castes (OBC).

In Rajendra Nagar, 22 per cent voters are SCs and another 20 per cent are OBCs.

The outcome of the election will be known on December 15.