Delhi votes on issues ranging from power and water supply, jobs to CAA-NRC and nationalism


PTI | New Delhi | Updated: 08-02-2020 21:25 IST | Created: 08-02-2020 21:25 IST
Delhi votes on issues ranging from power and water supply, jobs to CAA-NRC and nationalism
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Local issues like electricity and water supply, jobs, development work, national security and CAA were among the key factors on Delhiites' minds when they cast their vote on Saturday.

Sonakshi Ranjan (22), a first-time voter and resident of New Delhi, said he opted for development while casting his vote. "Voters should not idolize any party or candidate... work should be the only factor," Ranjan said.

For Prahlad Kumar, another first-time voter from Nangloi, employment was the topmost on the agenda. "Rest everything is secondary. Light, water... whatever amenities, even if they are expensive they can be bought if there is income," he said. In Kalkaji constituency, S C Sharma (74) said he voted for development and national security.

Amarinder Biji (50), a voter in New Delhi seat, said he would not vote for development if it comes "at the cost of sanity and safety". "It has become so scary that there can be firing anytime any day. I don't want forces which divide the country and do not have love for the nation," Biji said.

Saurabh Kumar (23), a bus conductor, said he voted keeping in view national interest. "Free water and power are fine, but there are much bigger national issues that are important," he said outside a polling station in Karawal Nagar.

A businessman from Seemapuri constituency, Raj Kumar Goel, felt that nationalism was the main poll plank in Delhi polls. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens were among the key issues, especially in minority dominated areas.

Mohammad Zubair (63) from Okhla, who came to vote along with his 26-year-old daughter Sarah Madiha, an architect, said he will choose development. "Attempts were made to polarise voters by a party over the anti-CAA protests, but it will not work much," he said.

Bharatnatyam dancer Aranyani Bhargav patiently waited in a queue for her turn to vote, occasionally cradling her nine-month-old child whom she carried strapped to herself. The 34-year-old artistic director, accompanied by her parents Rajeev Bhargav and Tani Bhargav, said she chose development over nationalism.

"I voted for development of Delhi, harmony and peace.... I am against people pitching one community against another," she said. Shahabuddin and his wife Fahmeeda, in their early 70s, said they voted for the party that worked for poor.

"The governments need to help poor people and we voted for the party which is doing it," said Shahbuddin, a roadside vendor in Khahuri area of Karawal Nagar constituency. The BJP had pitched the issue of nationalism and opposition to anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests, especially in Shaheen Bagh, at the centre of its aggressive electioneering, while the AAP mostly avoided getting into a debate over national issues and ran its campaign around development plank and populist schemes like free power, water and bus ride for women. The Congress remained on the sidelines, reminding the people of the development in the city under Sheila Dikshit government.

A significant number of voters, however, were tight-lipped about the issues driving their choice. Neelam Rani, who went to vote using a walker as she recently met with an accident, and her sister Rajender Tandon said the campaign for polls was "very nosiy".

"We know what is right and what is wrong. There were many issues which we considered and voted accordingly," they said after casting vote at a polling station in Vivek Vihar under Shahdara constituency. Though BJP had vociferously raised anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh, but voters in south Delhi were divided on whether it will have any bearing on the outcome of the polls.

Syed Asif, 30, a trained engineer, who runs a business near the site of the protest that has been going on for over 50 days now, lamented that Shaheen Bagh agitation was about a "human issue" but "made into a poll issue to serve selfish interests". "Thus it surely polarised minds of people, and that will have an impact on the outcome of the polls. But, Delhi also has very sensible people, and I an very hopeful that most of the people have voted or will vote wisely," he said, as he stood in a long queue at a polling station in Shaheen Bagh thronged by voters till late afternoon.

Looking to capture power after a gap of 22 years, the BJP had launched a campaign blitzkrieg, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah leading the saffron charge fuelled by its planks of Hindutva and nationalism. The issue often dominated the political discourse during the campaign, with many BJP leaders targeting the ruling AAP and Congress, accusing them of "misleading the people" holding anti-CAA protests in Delhi.

Though the Shaheen Bagh protest site is far away from Kalkaji, a section of voters in the constituency also felt that the anti-CAA protests would "have a bearing" on the elections that concluded Saturday evening. Amit Lal, 18, who mans a shop at Kalkaji Mandir, voted for the first time. He said the Shaheen Bagh issue will "have an impact" but development agenda also cannot be ignored.

"I live in a JJ Colony in Madanpur Khadar that neighbours the protest site, and the anti-CAA protests were made a major poll issue by parties. But, agenda should have been development, education and health and jobs." Voters queued up outside a polling booth in an MCD school across the street, but for the around 750 Hindu families from Pakistan taking refuge in north Delhi's Majnu ka Tila, it was just another Saturday.

The amended Citizenship Act has raised their hopes of getting voting rights soon, and subsequently a pucca house and a permanent address in India. "It is the same as yesterday. Elections come and go, without making any difference to our lives," said 43-year-old Dharamveer Bagri who led a group of 484 Pakistani Hindus from Sindh to Delhi in 2013.

Premji (46) said all that the refugees ask is a home and piece of land to build their lives around it. "Justice has been done to people living in unauthorised colonies... A day will come and we will have a pucca house and a permanent address... that's why voting rights are important," he said.

Under the amended citizenship law, Indian nationality would be granted to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh who have come to India before 2015. "I kept those at the lowest strata who are just able to make their ends meet in mind before I pressed the (EVM) button. The new-generation electorate would vote for equality, development, healthcare, education and clean air," said 21-year-old Akshay Singh.

Standing in a queue outside a polling booth in Chandni Chowk constituency, Rahul and his friend Karan, both first-time voters, said they were going to vote for development. Sadaf Mehboob (18), a student of Jamia Millia University, who cast her vote from a polling station in Shaheen Bagh, said, "My vote has gone for better education, health, and jobs for the youth, as I am one."

Counting of votes is on February 11.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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