The BJP Government’s decision to extend the eligibility deadline of unauthorised colonies in a bid to regularise some 1,900 plus settlements with an estimated population of about 50 lakh to 60 lakh sets the tone of BJP’s poll campaign among this very significant vote bank ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the
national Capital. This is also being seen as BJP’s way to counter Aam Aadmi Party’s influence among the low-income voters in unauthorised colonies. The Delhi Government is now awaiting orders from the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) to set in motion the process to implement the procedure. The most interesting fact is that there is no enthusiasm among people of unauthorised colonies after the Union Cabinet decision to extend the cut-off date till June 1, 2014.
The BJP Government’s decision to frame fresh guidelines for regularisation of the unauthorised colonies in the city is a clear move of the party to keep its vote share intact in all those constituencies where voters from these colonies play a decisive role. Of the 25 constituencies dominated by the unauthorised colonies, the saffron party had managed to win as many as 16 in the last Assembly elections. Considered as a stronghold of the Congress, the party managed to register its victory in just three such seats in the last elections. Even the newbie AAP had registered its victory in five of these constituencies in 2013.
It was way back in 1993 when the saffron party had first managed to win a maximum number of seats dominated by the unauthorised colonies. But the saffron party took a drubbing in the 1998 elections, when it lost 16 of these seats to the Congress. While the Congress managed to regain majority of these seats in 2003 and 2008 Assembly polls, it could retain its control in only Badli, Mustafabad and Okhla seats in the last elections.
Fearing that the Congress and the AAP might create a dent in its vote share in the upcoming Assembly elections in such seats, the saffron party’s decision to frame fresh guidelines for regularisation of these colonies is being interpreted in political circles as a ploy to ensure that the party retains its control in those seats it had won in the last election.
