Fierce contest in the heart of Capital

It is a fierce contest between two women candidates and both of them are facing internal sabotage from their male counterparts. The Congress candidate and Deputy Speaker in the Delhi Assembly, Krishna Tirath, is taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Anita Arya, who is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha from the Karol Bagh (SC) constituency in the heart of the Capital.

Fighting the toughest political battle of her life within and outside the party, the former Delhi Mayor, Anita Arya, 42, has sought the help of RSS cadres to help her retain the seat. Giving her sleepless nights is Ms. Tirath who is determined to wrest the seat from the BJP. She had lost in this constituency in 1991 when she made her maiden appearance on the political scene. The anti-incumbency factor favours Ms. Tirath now. Local residents complain that after being elected in 1999, Dr. Arya forgot all her promises to improve civic amenities and ease the problem of overcrowding and traffic congestion. People are still waiting for a grievance cell that she had promised to set up after getting elected from here.

Several top BJP leaders including the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, have addressed meetings in the area in a bid to swing the fortunes in favour of Dr. Arya. In fact, the senior party leader and sitting MLA from Karol Bagh, S.P. Ratawal, has been working at cross purposes in the BJP campaign and this is going to damage the party’s cause.

On the other hand, banking on the anti-incumbency sentiment and the strong resentment against her rival, Ms. Tirath has been moving around the constituency for a door-to-door campaign and padyatras. The presence of Satya Pal Singh, 45, of the Bahujan Samaj Party, and public meetings of the BSP supremo, Mayawati, has made the battle interesting, even though her party thus far has not been able to make any significant dent in Karol Bagh.

However, the presence of the BSP has Ms. Tirath worried. The Scheduled Caste voters besides the refugee Punjabi community play a dominant role in deciding the fate of the candidates and the BSP could take a big chunk of these votes. Ms. Tirath is also faced with infighting within the party with the party Chief Whip, Ramakant Goswami, and Councillor, Tulsi Ram Sablania not working actively in the constituency. The Karol Bagh Parliamentary constituency has five Assembly segments — Patel Nagar and Rajinder Nagar and Karol Bagh, Baljit Nagar and Ram Nagar (all reserved). In the December Assembly elections, the BJP had won three seats, while the Congress registered victory in two.

Punjabi refugee constitute a major chunk of voters (over one-fourth) in Patel Nagar and Rajinder Nagar seats, while Karol Bagh, Ram Nagar Baljeet Nagar segments are dominated by Scheduled Caste, a majority of whom are professionals, literate and skilled workers. Khatik and Balmikis are also in sizeable numbers here. The people are faced with the problem of blatant commercialisation of residential areas, acute shortage of water and power, lack of a proper sewerage system and ever increasing traffic congestion.

For the Congress, Sunderwati Nawal Prabhakar defeated S.P. Ratawal of the BJP by a margin of 86,572 votes in during 1984 pro-Congress wave. In 1989, Kalka Dass of the BJP defeated Dharam Dass Shastri of the Congress by 6,969 votes. He created history in the next general elections in 1991, becoming the first candidate to win for the second consecutive term. He defeated Ms. Tirath by a small margin of 2,500 votes.

However, Mr. Dass missed a hat trick in 1996 when he lost to Meira Kumar of the Congress by 41,890 votes. Daughter of the Dalit leader and former Deputy Prime Minister, Jagjivan Ram, Ms. Kumar maintained her winning streak in 1998. She defeated S.P. Ratawal by 4,826 votes. The people too denied her a hat trick in 1999 as Dr. Arya defeated by 12,454 votes defeated her.