Ankit Raj
Delhi is a state from where whole country’s working is governed. Various states claim that they are game-changers and they are the one who decide who will sit on throne in Delhi. It is clear that everyone wants to reach to Delhi. However, it is a bit difficult to explain where Delhi citizens want to reach. Why is it difficult?
Let’s understand…Election takes place for 16th Lok Sabha during the year 2014. There are total 7 lok sabha seats in Delhi. From this, 1 seat of North-West Delhi is reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate. People of Delhi vote in favour of BJP for all 7 seats.
Everyone thought that Delhi citizens are also impressed by Modi-wave. However, there are facts which oppose this claim. Just after 9 months of general elections, when Delhi goes to vote for assembly elections then same public rejects BJP. Modi-wave fades away.
BJP wins merely 3 seats out of 70 in Delhi. AAP wins rest 67 seats. As a result, Delhi becomes first state to stop so-called ‘Modi wave’. Now, the question is whether people of Delhi will again chose a different leader or not. It is worth seeing what Delhi’s public will chose this time.
This changing mood of Delhi applies to Congress party as well. This party won all 7 seats during 2009 elections, but stood at shameful 0 during 2014 elections. During 2009, BJP got 0 seats.
Right now, BJP holds all the 7 Lok Sabha seats of Delhi:
Chandni Chowk- Dr Harshvardhan
Eastern Delhi- Mahesh Giri
New Delhi- Menakshi Lekhi
North East- Manoj Tiwari
North West- Dr Udit Raj
South West- Ramesh Bidhuri
Western Delhi- Sahib Singh Verma
Lets start from Chandni Chowk seat. It is to note that there are 10 assembly constituencies come under this seat. The name of one of this constituency is itself Chandni Chowk. AAP leader Alka Lamba is MLA from this seat. Actually, all 10 assembly seats are occupied by AAP leaders.
Chandni Chowk:
Chandni Chowk is among most busy and ancient regions of Delhi. It is different from ‘modern delhi’. It has narrow streets as well as Mughal buildings. Chandni Chowk was itself designed by daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
Mughal period ended, Britishers ruled and after that Independence finally came. But, the importance of Chandni Chowk didn’t decreased. After independence, in 1957 it came to be known as Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency. Congress leader Radha Raman was elected as MP in 1957.
This constituency was occupied by Congress till 1989. During this time, Congress had to face loss only 2 times. The party was first defeated at this seat in 1967. Congress got second defeat in 1977 Lok Sabha elections.
But after 1990, BJP came to end the monopoly of Congress in Chandni Chowk. There were 7 Lok Sabha elections from 1991 to 2014. BJP won in the years 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2014 while Congress won in 1996, 2004 and 2009. That means 4 BJP candidates won and 3 of Congress.
Change of politics in 2014-
Prior to 2014 elections, only Congress and BJP had control over Chandni Chowk. However, after that there were many other parties on the ground. There was 69% on this seat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Dr Harshvardhan won at this seat in 2014 with only a samll margin. He got 437938 votes while AAP candidate Ashutosh got 301618 votes. That means he got only 136320 more votes. Ashutosh was contending elections for the first time.
As far as Congress is concerned, senior leader Kapil Sibal stood on number 3 in 2009 elections. Kapil Sibal got merely 176206 votes. Whil he got merely 465713 votes in 2009 elections. That means his votes decreased by 289507.
This means that 2019 elections are not limited to BJP and Congress. It can inferred that AAP won 10 out of 10 assembly seats which come under this constituency during 2015 elections.
Dr Harshvardhan can be seen in this constituency only during elections. He became Minister of Health and Family Welfare. Now, he is minister of Science & Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences. As far as meeting with the public is concerned, the he has not given much emphasis on it. 2019 elections are near, so he was again seen in his constituency. On the other hand, AAP has already started with its election campaign.
On one hand, Congress will try to take back this seat from BJP. On the other, if AAP is successful in convincing public that it has done work for them then it can be a big problem for BJP.
If we look at election results of previous elections then vote share of AAP-Congress is more than that of BJP. If AAP and Congress are able to form an alliance, then they can defeat BJP. However, AAP is the same party which came in power in Delhi by being a fierce opponent of Congress. Will both parties join hand for winning this seat?, only time will tell.
