Dikshit, Tiwari to square off in North-East Delhi

Caste equations will be in focus on Sunday when people of North-East Delhi parliamentary constituency set out to choose their representative in the Lok Sabha for the next five years with the BJP's Manoj Tiwari facing off against Congress veteran and former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The North-East Delhi constituency is said to be a combination of Poorvanchalis, Muslims and migrants and these communities might play a decisive role on polling day on May 12.

Even during the roadshow of Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday, the majority of the crowd were Muslims who had gathered in huge numbers to have a glimpse of the Congress General Secretary.

Many believe that the combination of Muslims and migrants might just make things difficult for Delhi BJP chief Tiwari, the sitting member of parliament.

"It was only because of the anti-incumbency for the Congress government in the Centre and state that (BJP leader) Manoj Tiwari was able to win from the seat, but this time most of our neighbourhood are supporting the Congress as they have young leaders like Priyanka and Rahul," said Irfan Hussain who lives in Yamuna Vihar.

But on the other side there are residents who claim to be focusing on national issues in these elections and are ready to keep their regional issues aside for the sake of the nation.

"Although there has not been much work in the past five years, but then the regional issues can be dealt in the state elections and these elections must be seen as a key to the future which (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi has," said Lucky Chaurasia, who owns a mobile shop in Maujpur.

Created in 2009, after implementation of the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India, North-East Delhi is one of the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi.

In the first Lok Sabha elections held in the North-East Delhi seat in 2009, Congress candidate Jai Prakash Agarwal defeated the BJP's B.L. Sharma.

However in 2014, Tiwari, who is also a famous Bhojpuri singer and actor, won the seat by over a lakh votes, while the Congress slipped to number three in the race with the Aam Aadmi Party's Anand Kumar coming second.

This time though things might be a little different as the Congress has fielded Dikshit, who was the longest serving Chief Minister of Delhi from 1998 to 2013, to take on Tiwari.

Although the AAP has also given a poll ticket to Dilip Pandey but residents of the constituency believe that the seat will see a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress while the AAP might have to settle for the third spot.

Voting will be held during the sixth of the seven-phase elections on May 12 and the results will be declared on May 23.

--IANS

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