ASSEMBLY POLL 2024: Migrants, colony dwellers to play decisive role in Faridabad

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 2

Migrants and voters residing in densely populated colonies are likely to play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the winners in a majority of the Assembly segments in

Faridabad district.

As a large chunk of the voters in the five Assembly segments of Faridabad, Ballabgarh, NIT, Tigaon and Badkhal hail from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, MP and

Orissa, their preference for the candidates and parties is likely to be a vital factor in deciding the winner, according to political sources.

While the migrants, also known as “pravasis”, have a presence between 60 and 70 per cent of the vote bank in the segments of the NIT and Ballabgarh, the population in the constituencies of Badkhal, Tigaon and Faridabad ranges between 40 and 55 per cent of the population of the eligible voters, said Kamal Sharma, a political activist.

Claiming that the election of a migrant leader as the first Mayor of the city way back in 1994 has been a pointer towards the dominance of such a population, he said the election of two MLAs from this category of the population in the NIT segment since it came up 15 years ago, established the importance of the above-stated factor. While Pt Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, who got elected as an Independent MLA for the first time from in 2009, his son and present MLA Neeraj Sharma got elected on the Congress ticket in 2019 elections. The NIT has been the only seat among the six seats which was won by the Congress in 2019 in the district.

The ruling BJP had won from Faridabad, Badkhal, Tigaon and Ballabgarh seats. The fifth seat of the Prithla segment went to an Independent candidate in the last elections.

Satish Chopra, a social activist, said as almost 60 per cent of the vote bank had been residing in large slum-type colonies, including AC Nagar, Ram Nagar, Gonchhi, SGM Nagar, Gandhi Colony, Sanjay Colony, Bhood Colony, Dabua Nagar, Jeevan Nagar, Jamai Colony, Krishna Colony, Bharat Colony and Palla in various segments, their support will be vital to the candidates. The distribution of liquor, cash and other gifts secretly to woo voters could not be ruled out, he said.

Realising the importance of such a vote bank, Congress leader and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at a meeting held on August 17, had promised to set up a welfare board for the migrant ("pravasi") workers in the state, if the party came to power. The migrants have contributed to building Haryana and played an important role in the development of industries and financial investment. The role of the migrants in the state's economy could not be undermined, Hooda had remarked.