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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Choice is between singer, ex-MLAs
The BJP has chosen to give ticket to Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans. Congress’ candidate Rajesh Lilothia, 54 is a two-time MLA and AAP’s Gugan Singh, 70, is also an ex-MLA.
Over 23 lakh voters from North West Delhi parliamentary constituency will choose between a singer and two former MLAs when they vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on May 12.
The BJP has chosen to drop its sitting MP Udit Raj from here and given ticket to Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans. Congress’ candidate Rajesh Lilothia, 54 is a two-time MLA and AAP’s Gugan Singh, 70, is also an ex-MLA.
Voters in the constituency, which consists of mostly rural areas, said the person who would resolve solve their problems and have a local connect, would have the edge.
Sunil Kumar, a resident of Amar Enclave in Kirari Suleman Nagar, said most neighbourhoods there suffer from scarcity of drinking water. Traffic too is an issue.
“Without flyovers or underpasses at Kirari, Nangloi and Sultanpuri railway crossings, traffic snarls are common,” he said.
Ranbir Singh, a resident of Jaunti village, said that lack of hospitals and higher education institutes is a major problem in the villages of this constituency. He said BJP MP Udit Raj could not get them a hospital or a higher education institution.
“This time we want someone who can deliver on these issues,” he said.
AAP’s Gugan Singh is a former BJP MLA. He had won Bawana assembly seat on a BJP ticket in the 2013 but lost it to the AAP candidate in 2015. He switched sides in 2017 when the BJP denied him a ticket ahead of the Bawana bypoll.
“There are no government engineering and medical colleges in the region. My priority will be to address these issues and raise people’s voice in parliament. This constituency has a big rural area and it must have engineering and medical education institutes,” he said.
Lilothia is a former Congress MLA from Baljeet Nagar and Patel Nagar. He brushed aside the “outsider” tag that his opponents have been assigning him.
Lilothia said he belongs to Nililothi village near Nangloi. “I know the problems of the region better than any other candidate. I will shortlist major issues in the region and prioritise them to include those in our agenda,” he said.
On the nomination of Hans Raj Hans by the BJP, local residents said they have seen him on television but don’t know much about him.
The popular sufi singer could not be reached for his comments.
