Congress candidate from Chandni Chowk constituency Jai Prakash Aggarwal during a roadshow for Lok Sabha elections, in New Delhi, Saturday, May 18, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Chandni Chowk faces a plethora of everyday issues like crumbling infrastructure, traffic congestion and parking woes, but many residents say they would prefer to cast their votes in the coming Lok Sabha elections on national issues rather than the local problems.
Pollution and crime are among the least talked-about issues in this trader and Muslim-dominated constituency. Ironically, it is among the 13 pollution hotspots of Delhi but this finds little or no mention in the poll promises of parties.
From humble 'gol gappa' sellers to big merchants in Chandni Chowk, several residents share a common view that in the general elections, issues impacting development at the national level weigh higher for voters.
Ashok (53), a merchant in the Chandni Chowk market, takes out his mobile phone to show a WhatsApp forward and says, "As a true nationalist, we must vote on national issues or those that are in the wider interest of people. We need to adjust even if local issues are not met." The WhatsApp forward in Hindi claim that 'anti-national elements' are trying to divide the country, naming a few political parties.
Jatin, an 18-year-old first time voter, selling 'gol gappa' on the pavement of one of the busiest markets in the world, raised concern over lack of jobs and opportunities for youths but said he will consider the ideological and religious affiliation of the candidates to decide his vote. "I will prefer voting for a person who is of my cast or has the religious belief as mine."
Sixty-year-old merchant Lalit Jain said his family, from his grandfather's time, has been a loyal voter of one particular party. "We take a collective decision and all vote based on that," he said while also lamenting that issues like huge challans, GST, space crunch, among others are plaguing the traders community.
Crime is a major issue in the Sadar Bazar area, with about 150 incidents of phone theft happening on a daily basis, complained Pawan Sauraj (49), an employee at a local shop. His friend Bhola Shankar (53) said people of Sadar bazar area live in cramped conditions with foul smell emanating from unhygienic public toilets and stray animals wandering on the roads.
Several residents in the posh area like Model Town to slums like Shakurbasti were unanimous in saying that pollution, clean water and sewage system related problems trouble them alike. Governments of different political parties have come and gone in the constituency but none proved to be of any respite to them, they added.
The BJP has been winning the Chandni Chowk seat since 2014. In this election, it has fielded Praveen Khandelwal replacing incumbent Harsh Vardhan. Kandelwal is pitted against Congress veteran leader JP Agarwal, a three-time MP from the seat.
In 2019, BJP's Harshvardhan defeated Agarwal with over 8 per cent vote margin. Khandelwal, who is also founder and general secretary of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said, if elected, he will work on building a 200 bed multi-speciality hospital, establish senior citizens recreation centres in every assembly constituency, set up startup incubation centres for youth, build flyovers and underpass to deal with traffic issues, established underground wire networks to prevent the life threat posed by dangling wires in the area, besides addressing the other issues in the constituency.
"Moreover, I will ensure that people are able to meet me and raise their concerns. I will stand by my words and my promises," he told PTI. Agarwal promised to raise the voice of the people of Chandni Chowk in Parliament. "From sewage-related issues to problems of traders, I will address all these issues. Most importantly, I will raise the voice of the people in Parliament. In the last 10 years, Chandni Chowk's voice was never heard in Parliament."
However, there was no development done in the area and the MP never visited them after winning.
Vikas Mandal (51), a resident of Chandni Chowk locality, said he feels the AAP had a better chance of winning from this seat than the Congress. Amit (18), another resident in the area, said he is impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'leadership qualities'.
Jain claimed that Harsh Vardhan rarely visited the constituency to listen to the concerns of the public. Many others said that they see the AAP as a good option for Delhi's governance while the BJP should be at the Centre.
"The Arvind Kejriwal government has done a lot of good work in education and health sector but the BJP has its plus points too. When it comes to national issues, the Modi government has boost India's reputation globally and cracked down on terrorists," a voter in Sadar Bazar said, requesting not to be named.
Chandni Chowk has a total voter count of 16,45,958, nearly 5.24 per cent increase from 15,61,828 in 2019. The number of male voters is 8,83,760, female 7,62,030 and third gender voters is 168 votes. The constituency has 17 per cent traders and 14 per cent Muslim voters among others communities. The parliamentary constituency has 10 assembly constituencies — Adarsh Nagar, Shalimar Bagh, Shakur Basti, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, and Ballimaran.