‘Manchester of North India’ has history of voting for party that grabs power at Centre

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, March 30

Known as the Manchester of northern India, the industrial hub of Faridabad continues to enjoy a kind of political and social supremacy in view of its urbanised face and being the migrants’ centre.

Number of voters

• While Tigaon has the largest number of voters at 350,137, Badkhal 317,083, NIT 301,864, Ballabgarh 263,399, Faridabad 255,673, Prithla 218,901, Palwal 259,492, Hathin 232,563 and Hodal 191,818

Important issues

• Intercity Connectivity Infrastructure
• Solid Waste Disposal and Pollution Control
• Faridabad- Gurugram and Faridabad—Palwal Metro Rail Link
• Establishment of a Mother Unit of Industry
• Regularisation of the Non Confirming Industrial areas
• Connectivity with Noida
• Development at par with Gurugram
• Poor Civic amenities

Its location, which is close to the national capital of Delhi, has also cast an image where the nature of voters had been more volatile and who prefer to stay with power flow. The constituency has been the playground of the party that had remained in clout at the Centre.

Came into being as the 10th Lok Sabha segment, Faridabad is one of the newest constituencies in the state. It was carved out from Gurugram in 1977, when Janata Party took the benefit of the nationwide political storm. As its candidate Dharavir Vashista became the first MP from here, the seat was wrested by the Congress party, whose candidates won from here consecutively in 1980 and 1984, perhaps due to the strong position of the party at the Centre. Though Bharatiya Lok Dal, a new political outfit, also represented the seat in 1988, it soon went into the Congress fold in 1989 and 1991, when Bhajan Lal, former Haryana CM and Avtar Singh Bhadana staged victory from here.

The scenario changed in 1996 due to the rise of former PM and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee in national politics resulting in the victory of BJP candidate Ram Chander Bainda, who was the first to make a hat-trick between 1996 and 1999. But the verdict got reversed again in 2004 and 2009, when Bhadana again won from here, signalling that Faridabad cannot be considered as stronghold of any party for long.

The Modi or BJP wave, which swept the country in 2014 and 2019, resulted in the victory of the present MP Krishan Pal Gurjar twice, stamping the belief that voters of Faridabad prefer to remain with the party in power at the Centre. Gurjar had won with a record margin of over 6.5 lakh votes over his rival in 2019.

“As majority of the population has been dependent on industry, business and private jobs, they don’t have much time to take part in any agitation or any definite political lineage and thus want to support the party in power in expectation of better facilities,” says Devender Singh Surjewala, a political and social analyst.

“The diverse profile of voters has been responsible for the mass alignment with the parties in power and this may get reflected again,” says Vishnu Goel, a resident.

He said though the problem of infrastructural development had still been a major concern, the weak political character of the electorate had been responsible for going with the flow.

The largest populated nucleus of the state also has the stigma of one of the most polluted cities in the subcontinent. While industry and jobs have been the dominant issues, this constituency also seems to be having the impact of the caste bank politics, according to analysts.

Comprises 9 Assembly seats

Faridabad, Tigaon, NIT, Badkhal, Ballabgarh, Prithla in Faridabad district, Palwal, Hodal and Hathin in Palwal district. Total number of voters—-2390,933. With 1707,060 voters in Faridabad, Palwal district has 683,873 voters. The numbers of Male and Female voters are 1297,856 and 1092,961, respectively.

The number of Third gender voters in the segment is 79 in Faridabad and 36 in Palwal district. The Elector Population ratio is 663 in Faridabad, it is 540 in Palwal. With an average Gender ratio being 848, it is 832 in Faridabad and 864 in Palwal. The PWD (Person with Disability) voters are 11436 in the Lok Sabha segment.