Delhi Elections: Sangam Vihar voters unlikely to fall for BJP’s polarisation bid

Even though the BJP is attempting to turn the Elections in Delhi into a debate on whether a voter is for or against the protest at Shaheen Bagh and other ‘nationalistic’ issues, most people in Sangam Vihar constituency in south Delhi seem to have seen through the ploy.

Almost all the people National Herald spoke to regarding their political inclination for the polls scheduled on Saturday, February 8, made it quite clear that they were far more concerned with everyday issues like bijli, sadak and paani (electricity, roads and water) than the allegedly communal protests at Shaheen Bagh.

Sajid, a welder who also works as an air conditioning repair person during the summer, said, “We do not understand the core issues of the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of citizens or National Population Register, but there is surely a concern that these things will target the poor and the Muslims. But the reason we are not going to cast our votes for the BJP is that they are trying to poison people’s minds by running an election campaign based on religious hatred which has the potential to disturb religious harmony.”

Laxman Tanwar, who runs an electricity shop says the BJP’s attempt to polarise people by harping on Shaheen Bagh was clear through public statements given by its leaders like Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma, but it wasn’t working, at least in Sangam Vihar. “The socio-economic profile of people here is such that they are more concerned about day-to-day issues like water and electricity, they’re not bothered about all those things,” he said.

Asked who he was intending to vote for, Balwan Singh, owner of a small automobile repair shop said, “Certainly not for the BJP candidate, who is from JD (U) this time, as it will amount to wasting the vote. Like most people, I will vote either for the AAP or the Congress, though I favour the AAP which has done significant development work and also gave subsidy on power and water which reduced my monthly bills.”

Sangam Vihar assembly constituency has a total number of 1,63,982 voters consisting of 97,432 men and 66,537 women electors.

The main candidates in fray this year are Dinesh Mohaniya (AAP), Poonam Azad (Congress) and SCL Gupta of JD (U)

In 2015 general elections, AAP candidate Dinesh Mohaniya won from this seat scoring 72131 votes. The runner up candidate during this election was Shiv Charan Lal Gupta of BJP who got 28143 votes. In 2013 elections, it was again Dinesh Mohaniya of AAP who won from this seat. He scored 24851 votes against the BJP candidate Shiv Charan Lal Gupta who got 24074 votes.

The municipal wards within this constituency include Sangam Vihar C, Sangam Vihar D, Sangam Vihar E, Tughlaqabad Extension.

The constituency is largely surrounded by jungles and houses Asia’s biggest unauthorised colony. The constituency lacks several basic civic amenities like sewage lines, water and electricity. In fact, the constituency is particularly known for facing an acute water crisis.