New Delhi, the most urbanised parliamentary constituency in the Capital, will poll in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on Sunday when more than 16.17 lakh voters will decide the fate of the candidates in the fray.
Six other constituencies will also vote along with New Delhi on Sunday and counting will be held on May 23.
Voters, many of whom are from middle income and affluent communities, live in ten assembly seats that span from the centrally located Karol Bagh to Greater Kailash in the city’s deep southern pocket.
After delimitation in 2008, a big chunk of south Delhi was merged to this seat, which gave it a sizeable number of traders. Also, Karol Bagh, which was a reserved (SC) parliamentary seat, was merged with New Delhi.
The constituency is also home to some of the city’s busiest and famous markets such as Connaught Place, Sarojini Nagar, Defence Colony, Khan Market, South Extension, Green Park and Hauz Khas.
Political parties say there are no unauthorised colonies in this constituency and caste isn’t a factor here. But, the segment has a number of urbanised villages such as Shahpur Jat, Zamrudpur, Pillanji, Kotla Mubarakpur, Masjid Moth and Hauz Rani.
{{/usCountry}}Political parties say there are no unauthorised colonies in this constituency and caste isn’t a factor here. But, the segment has a number of urbanised villages such as Shahpur Jat, Zamrudpur, Pillanji, Kotla Mubarakpur, Masjid Moth and Hauz Rani.
{{/usCountry}}It also has 95 slums clusters, including Ravi Dass camp in RK Puram, Dr Ambedkar camp in Kirti Nagar and Shiv Basti. These localities battle lack of sanitation and cleanliness and occasional water shortage.
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Unauthorised hotels, sealing drives and the government’s move to cut more than 14,000 trees are among a number of local issues at hand in this national election.
The BJP has nominated the current member of Parliament Meenakshi Lekhi and Congress has fielded Ajay Maken, a two-term lawmaker from this seat. The Aam Aadmi Party has put up its traders’ wing leader Brijesh Goyal.
Maken is relying heavily on his past stints as a minister in the Union and the state cabinets. Lekhi is reaching out to the voters with her achievements in the past five years, focusing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the works done by the NDA government.
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While Maken promised he would put an end to the sealing drive in one month if voted to power, AAP’s Brijesh Goyal said his party would stop it in 24 hours. AAP is pushing with its demand for full statehood to Delhi in its campaign.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, BJP leaders Jagmohan have been lawmakers from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat.
Bollywood star Rajesh Khanna has also represented the prestigious New Delhi constituency as a Congress leader after he won the by-election in 1992 against his colleague Shatrughan Sinha, who contested for the BJP. Rajesh Khanna retained his seat until 1996.