NEW DELHI :With Delhi gearing up for Assembly polls, all the major political players—the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party—are drawing up strategies to woo 40 lakh Poorvanchali voters in the capital.
The changing demography of Delhi has forced the political parties to redraw their strategies in Delhi. This was echoed in the recent reshuffle of the Congress’ Delhi unit where prominent Poorvanchali leader and former cricketer Kirti Azad was appointed the chairman of the Congress’ campaign committee.
Manoj Tiwari, a Poorvanchali actor-turned-leader, has already been heading the BJP’s Delhi unit and much of the credit for the party’s success in the MCD polls and Lok Sabha polls in Delhi has been attributed to
Tiwari.
AAP has already launched a programme called “Apan Bihar” to give a Poorvanchali push to its poll campaign. Under this programme, AAP’s plan is to conduct three meetings in each of Delhi’s Assembly constituencies. Currently, the party has the highest representation from Poorvanchal as there are 13 MLAs coming from this segment.
Sikandar Singh, a president of the Poorvanchal Ekta Manch in Delhi, said: “Today, if the Chhath puja is given importance, that is just due to the AAP’s emergence in Delhi. Most of the Poorvanchalis living on the edge of the city have benefited from the AAP’s free water and electricity schemes; they are the ones who are mostly benefited from the health schemes of the AAP, be it the Mohalla clinics or any
other plans.”
The AAP had failed to capture the mood of the Poorvanchalis in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls and it couldn’t win a single Lok Sabha seat in Delhi. However, it is confident of winning the support of the Poorvanchalis in the upcoming Assembly polls. On the other hand, BJP’s Tiwari has has a great fan-following among Poorvanchali voters. With the support of Poorvanchali voters, Tiwari defeated former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Anil Jha, a former BJP legislator from Kirari Assemly constituency, told The Sunday Guardian: “Poorvanchali voters have been with the BJP and that is not going to change even in the Assembly polls. AAP’s poll gimmick is not going to trap the voters coming from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as they are aware of the AAP’s grudge against them. They will not forget the recent remarks of Arvind Kejriwal that have been made against the Poorvanchalis.”
Similarly, the Congress is also gearing up to woo this segment of voters. The Delhi Congress has already appointed Subhash Chopra as DPCC president and Kirti Azad as chairman of the campaign committee, moves that will give a clear direction to the party in the Assembly polls. According to a senior Congress leader, the party is working on a plan to woo Poorvanchalis, Dalits and Muslim voters in Delhi.
Prabal Mishra, a Congress leader from West-Delhi, told this The Sunday Guardian: “In Delhi, no political party can afford to ignore the presence of Poorvanchali voters and the Congress has already given the work of poll campaign and selection of candidates to Kirti Azad. The party is also working on plans to regain its core voters—Dalits and Muslims. It’s going to be a tri-cornered contest and the party is confident of winning.”
As per a rough estimate by experts, Poorvanchalis form 35% of the total population and electorates from this segment decide the election results in almost 13-16 Assembly constituencies. The constituencies with strong presence of Poorvanchalis include Burari, Kirari, Sangam Vihar, Patparganj, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar, Ghonda, Badli, Matiala, Dwarka, Palam, Badarpur, Laxmi Nagar, Seemapuri, Karawal Nagar, Rithala, Rajender Nagar, Nangloi, Mangolpuri and Shahdara, among others, of all 70 constituencies.