Braving the hot sun, voters in minority-dominated areas such as Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar, and Batla House of Okhla Assembly constituency under East Delhi Parliamentary seat were seen queuing for long hours to just cast their ballot on Saturday for the 2024 Lok Sabha Election.

Same excitement was visible among the voters to exercise their democratic rights at the polling stations in the jurisdiction of Matia Mahal constituency under the Chandani Chowk Parliamentary zone, which has sizable minority communities.

Presiding officers at some of the polling stations shared with The Pioneer that many people had lined booths before the start of voting at 7 a.m. to avoid the blazing sun at the peak of summer. The temperature soared to 43 degrees Celsius in the afternoon in Delhi.

As men and women voters waited for their turn in respective rows, one could overhear them discussing their concerns and opinions, giving inkling of the issues dominating their minds.

Waiting for his turn, Nizam Malik, a resident of Batla House shared his views with The Pioneer, as he said, “it is everyone’s duty to cast their vote and also expressed his concerns about his locality, like education, roads, and crime. According to him these are the important topics on which the government should pay attention”.

Voter sentiment in these areas was mixed. The conversations among voters reflected a range of concerns and priorities. Many residents of the area expressed satisfaction with the government’s local policies. However, alongside the localized concerns, broader issues such as employment, communal harmony, and economic hardships also loomed large in the minds of voters.

Another resident of Shaheen Bagh, Sahil Qureshi said that, “nowadays people are very much influenced by religious and communal angle and they are casting their vote accordingly, whereas they should vote on other topics like development, infrastructure and health”.