Constituency Watch West Delhi : Fierce contest between AAP, BJP likely in Jat-dominated seat

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, March 27

As the electoral battleground heats up ahead of the General Election, the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency is likely to see a fierce battle between the INDIA bloc and the BJP.

This time, the BJP has dropped current MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma from West Delhi and fielded Kamaljeet Sehrawat.

In an alliance with the Congress under the umbrella of the INDIA bloc, the AAP will contest four seats, while the Congress will field its candidates from three seats in Delhi. Under the seat-sharing formula, the AAP will contest the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat and has fielded former Congress leader and ex-MP Mahabal Mishra.

Mishra has been a three-time Congress MLA and also won the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from the same constituency by defeating BJP’s Prof Jagdish Mukhi. However, Mishra has been unsuccessful in the previous two elections where he lost to Parvesh Verma in 2014 by a margin of 4.5 lakh votes. AAP’s Jarnail Singh remained second with 3,82,611 votes.

In 2019, Mishra was again defeated by Parvesh Verma by a much higher difference of 5.7 lakh votes.

Meanwhile, Sehrawat is a former South Delhi Mayor, who began her political career in 2007 when she was appointed the BJP’s district vice-president in Najafgarh. In 2008, she contested the Assembly elections from the Matiala Vidhan Sabha constituency.

From 2009 to 2014, Sehrawat served as the secretary of the Delhi Pradesh BJP. Her leadership capabilities were further recognised when she ascended to the presidency of the Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha from 2014 to 2016.

The genesis of the West Delhi constituency can be traced back to the delimitation exercise before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The constituency came into being in 2008 as a part of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002. Before this, some parts of the constituency were included in the Outer Delhi constituency, while some areas were in the erstwhile South Delhi constituency.

Historically, Jat voters have held sway in the constituency, a fact underscored by the electoral triumphs of pervious leaders like Sahib Singh Verma and Sajjan Kumar.

The BJP will take the schemes of the Central Government to the masses in Delhi. On the other side, the AAP, which recently suffered a setback after its national convener was arrested by a central probe agency, Enforcement Directorate, will try to make the arrest a big public issue.

The dynamics of West Delhi’s electorate have evolved over the time, reflecting the shifting sands of Delhi’s socio-political fabric. With over 11 lakh women voters compared to 13 lakh male voters, gender dynamics loom large in the electoral calculations.

The Delhi government, in order to woo female voters, has initiated ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’, under which Rs 1,000 will be given to women above the age of 18 years, except for income tax payers, government servants and beneficiaries of pension schemes.

A local resident said, “The issues of connectivity to rural areas and provision of basic amenities in unauthorised colonies such as roads and infrastructure continue to be understated.” The influence of Purvanchali residents in unauthorised colonies cannot be overstated. The constituency has also Sikh and Punjabi voters.