Delhi Elections: Three-way fight underway for Kalkaji Assembly seat

Elections in South Delhi are increasingly being fought on national issues rather than local ones and that has turned the fight into a three-way contest. With the BJP deciding to focus mostly only on the Shaheen Bagh protests in its election campaign, there has been mixed response to the strategy. But it has definitely gotten people talking.

In the Kalkaji Assembly constituency, which borders the Shaheen Bagh area, the fight is between Atishi Marlena of Aam Aadmi Party, Shivani Chopra of the Congress and Dharamveer Singh of the BJP. “Initially, all candidates would talk about electricity and water but now the Shaheen Bagh protests are becoming a talking point. There are several who do not understand the core issues of the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of citizens or National Population Register,” pointed out Parminder Singh who runs a kirana shop near Govindpuri.

“The Congress candidate here is a local. Her father Subhash Chopra has won several elections from this constituency. This time we are not sure who will win but Atishi is an outsider. She does not reside in this area. We must ask why she is not contesting from East Delhi from where she had contested the Lok Sabha elections,” said Raju Kumar, a resident of Kalkaji.

“Near the BJP’s office, you can see several flags but they are unlikely to win. Dharamveer doesn’t have much of a local following. It is a tough fight but most people here do not want the polarisation that the BJP has been talking about. It will not do anyone any good. The BJP has made many small businesses like mine suffer because of Demonetisation and GST. What work have they done,” asked Sultan who runs a toy repair shop in Kalkaji.

“The Congress has several factors on its side. Shivani Chopra has already campaigned here and she lives close by. We got to know that Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh will be a part of her road show. but most people in the area will choose the most winnable candidate so that votes are not split,” said Vijay Kumar who runs a mattress shop in the constituency.

But, it’s not so easy as it seems. “The BJP has supporters in Sarai Jullena area but the response to the BJP has been lukewarm so far. The fight seems to be tilting in favour of the AAP candidate but we can never be sure. The Shaheen Bagh protests don’t affect us much but the BJP has been screaming about it. People will see through it. The BJP will polarise on every pretext and now it is Shaheen Bagh. Tomorrow, it will be some other issue. It’s best we don’t fall into that trap,” added Ram Yadav who runs a pan shop in New Friends Colony.

“The Shaheen Bagh protests may benefit the BJP. They are using it to polarise the narrative. We want the protests to continue. It is a fight for our future. The people who come there are not only Muslims but also the educated and mostly upper-class citizens from nearby areas. They may not get polarised but several others might,” explained Nazim Choudhary, a local political leader.

“This time they have replaced Avatar Singh. We don’t know why that has been done. He was one of our people. We have no anger against Atishi Marlena but in this constituency, there are a lot of Punjabis. So our sentiments have to be respected,” underscored Jaswinder Kaur who had come to buy clothes at a local shop.

“The BJP has no hope in CR Park. Most people here will vote for either the AAP or the Congress. Most BJP supporters are in the Serai Jullena area which is also a part of this constituency. But those votes will not change the result,” added S. Sen who runs a shop in CR Park.

“Is the BJP lying about Shaheen Bagh? If law and order is under the Central government, why are they not doing anything? I am not so sure. We hear opposite of what you are saying on WhatsApp. This makes it difficult to believe anyone,” added Horen Mondal, an auto rickshaw driver who votes in the Kalkaji Assembly constituency.

The Kalkaji Assembly constituency had 1,64,240 electors in 2015, out of which 92,023 were males and 72,206 females. The votes will be polled at 13,750 polling stations which would be set up at 2,689 centres. Kalkaji saw a 64.9 per cent voter turnout in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls.

In the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, Avtar Singh of AAP defeated Harmeet Singh of the BJP by a margin of 19,769 votes. The current DCC president Subhash Chopra came third with 13,552 votes. The Congress has won from this constituency in four of the seven Delhi elections, BJP has won twice and AAP once.