Fresh faces in battle for Kalkaji seat
Two women educated abroad and a grassroots party worker are locked in a keen battle for the seat where over half the population is Punjabis
NEWDELHI: In the race for the Kalkaji assembly seat, the top contenders are an education reformist with not much political experience, a newbie from a political family and a grassroots-level veteran aspiring for a bigger play in Delhi’s electoral politics.
For Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Atishi (38) and Congress’ Shivani Chopra (40), it is also a personal battle as both hope to kick-start their political career as they take on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) former area councillor Dharambir Singh (56).
Atishi, an Oxford graduate, is credited for the education reforms in Delhi government schools.she had also unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from East Delhi last year, securing the third place.
Shivani, a lawyer who studied from the Inns of Court School of Law, London, is a political novice but politics has been part of her growing-up years. Her father, Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra, is a veteran Congressman and had represented Kalkaji thrice in the past. Banking on her father’s popularity and her family’s long association with the area, Shivani says she is “Kalkaji ki beti”. This battlefield is also a training ground for her.
The two foreign educated women are pitted against Singh, who is head of the Delhi BJP’S booth-level management wing — a crucial component of the BJP’S election strategy.
A resident of Kalka Garhi village, Singh was a councillor from Sriniwaspuri ward (2007-2012) and belongs to the Gujjar community.
He had worked at the ward and district levels for years and unsuccessfully the contested assembly election from the constituency in 2013 on an AAP ticket.
CAMPAIGN, ISSUES AND PROMISES
Atishi, who has been a resident of Jangpura Extension, where her parents live, has of late been staying in a house (a rented accommodation) at Kalkaji’s L-block.
She relies heavily on the work done by the AAP government as well as her Punjabi connect to woo the middle-class voters, largely Sikh-punjabi.
The three main political parties are vying for slum votes, which account for around 25% of the voter base with the largest being Navjeevan, Bhomiheen and Nehru camps in Govindpuri.
While AAP is banking on its welfare schemes, the Congress is talking about its past work. The BJP is assuring “Jahan jhuggi, wahan makan” under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) scheme.
As Atishi and a group of AAP supporters move about in the narrow lanes of a slum Sriniwaspuri’s G-block, the ‘Lage Raho Kejriwal’ song playing in the background and kids dancing to it, she asks residents, “Have your power bills reduced?” “If yes, then please vote for Kejriwal,” she says.
Subsidy in electricity and water tariff, mohalla clinics and improvement in quality of education in government schools are key issues Atishi raises while seeking ‘votes for Kejriwal’.
At slum clusters, she makes sure AAP’S ‘guarantee card’, launched by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to assure people that the subsidies would continue even after polls, reaches all houses.
In the upscale and middleclass areas such as Friends Colony and Maharani Bagh, she promises to find a solution to traffic problems and parking.
Unlike Atishi, Shivani’s campaign group is smaller—the Congress this time has made a conscious decision to hold small
meetings and not to add to traffic—but has a personal connect as people know her. Chopra, also a cross-country cyclist, is a resident of Friends Colony (East) C Block. Her father often canvasses for her during the morning.
The ‘Kalkaji ki beti’ reminds people of the development work the Congress had done during its 15-year rule in Delhi under former chief minister Sheila Dikshit. She promises the same development if voted to power.
Tackling air pollution, a robust public transport system, better road infrastructure, etc., are some of her key promises.
“I have grown up here and I know the area well. I will work for the development of this area —
better roads, flyovers, improved connectivity and addressing their concerns, which have been neglected by the AAP government so far,” says Chopra, as she waves at people watching from their windows at Govindpuri’s Gali no.15.
As she hugs women who came to welcome her, Chopra says, “Is baar apki beti ko hi jitana” (this time make your daughter win). Slogans of “Congress ko wapis lana, dilli ko behtar banana” (Bring Congress back to power to make Delhi better) are raised in the background.
Chopra accuses BJP at the Centre and AAP in Delhi of failing to control the rising prices of essential commodities and burdening the “aam aadmi”.
Singh, on the other hand, is focusing on a hyper-local campaign and holding small, boothlevel public meetings—a strategy the BJP has adopted this time. The focus is on the work done by the Centre and its welfare schemes and how AAP has “stalled Delhi’s development”. “The constituency has been neglected. AAP had to change its sitting MLA due to non-performance. What more is required to be said about AAP?” Singh says.
Besides local issues, the BJP is raising the ongoing anti-citizenship Amendment Act protest at Shaheen Bagh as the blockade of an arterial road has adversely affected the lives of residents of this constituency. The BJP has sharpened its pitch against protesters to garner the support of people and consolidate its vote base, mainly in middle-class and upper middle-class areas.
It is for first time in over two decades the BJP has fielded its own candidate from Kalkaji. It had always given this seat to its old and trusted ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) —as least 50-55% voters belong to the Sikh-punjabi community.
CONSTITUENCY AND CONTEST
With 1.85 lakh voters, the constituency is largely urbanised with a mix of affluent, middle and upper middle-class households in areas such as Maharani Bagh, parts of New Friends Colony and Friends Colony (East and West), Kalkaji, parts of East of Kailash and Sukhdev Vihar.
The assembly seat has three villages — Kalka Garhi, Sarai Julena and Bharat Nagar — mostly inhabited by the Gujjar community. Then there are slum clusters.
In Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Atishi stood a distant third in East Delhi as the Congress, which had fielded three-time MLA and its former Delhi chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, stood second. The BJP’S Gautam Gambhir won the seat. Education reforms was among Atishi’s key poll issues in 2019 Lok Sabha polls too.
Atishi dismisses the Congress, saying it is “out of fight” everywhere in this election. In this direct fight between AAP and BJP, she says the BJP neither has an “agenda” nor a “CM face”.
“To me, it seems more of a onesided election. People want Arvind Kejriwal to be their CM. It’s only AAP, which in its work has a touch point for everyone. Be it power or water, CCTVS or board exam fee, it affects both the middle-class and the low-income groups alike,” she says.
But Singh counters that AAP had to change its sitting MLA (Avtar Singh) and it shows that they failed to do any work in the constituency. Singh, who left the BJP after being denied a ticket in the 2013 assembly elections and had unsuccessfully contested on AAP’S ticket from this constituency, says, “I didn’t like their (AAP) ideology.”
Focusing largely on boothlevel public meetings, Singh says, “I have my work to show, which I did as the area councillor.”
For Chopra, the fight, she says, is between real development that actually took place and “false claims”. “People know the work done by the Congress and will give it a chance to do it once again for them. AAP gave only broken promises. Poor infrastructure and unemployment will affect the polls this time,” she says.
THE CONSTITUENTS SPEAK
For most, the fight is between AAP and the BJP. With the ongoing anti-caa protests at Shaheen Bagh in the adjoining Okhla constituency, the Kalindi Kunj road blocked by protesters has not gone down well with many.
Though AAP has been able to showcase its work well, the roadblock has residents worried. The middle-class votes may get divided over this,” says Harpreet Singh Tuteja, a businessman from New Friends Colony.
For Kamla Devi, 56, a resident of Navjeevan Camp, the all-time low electricity bills boosted her monthly savings. “I am able to save ₹1,000-₹1,200 every month with the power bill just coming to about zero.”
The only grouse of slum dwellers are the unfulfilled promises to provide them pucca houses. “The Congress had started an in-situ development project here in 2009. Nothing has come of it. Every election they make a promise of jahan jhuggi waha makan, but it never happens for real,” says Saleem Malik, who runs a scrap shop at Nehru Camp.