The electoral battle in the Jangpura Assembly constituency has become a triangular fight with the entry of former Deputy Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia. Making it a closely and keenly watched fight, the Congress has fielded former mayor Farhad Suri and the BJP picked Congress turncoat Tarvinder Singh Marwah. The Jangpura Assembly election stands out as a clash of leadership, legacy, and future aspirations.

The seat has attained the status of a ‘high-profile’ seat, which sees a mix of urban and slum voters, with Sisodia entrance in the fray from here. Despite the party’s previous successes in Jangpura, Sisodia’s candidacy could be seen as a gamble due to his recent controversies, including his alleged involvement in the liquor policy case, which led to his time in custody.

Considered a Congress stronghold once, the Assembly constituency, which is a part of South-east parliamentary constituency, will witness a fierce fight as Sisodia has opted to contest from here rather than the Patparganj assembly constituency, from where he has won three times in 2013, 2015 and 2020. Notably, the BJP has never won the Jangpura Assembly seat, making it a priority to secure its first victory there in the upcoming elections.

Although, the decision to shift to Jangpura, which has 1,47,785 voters, wasn’t a big surprise for many following Sisodia narrowly missing losing in Patparganj in the last election in 2020 by defeating Ravinder Singh Negi, a BJP candidate, by over 3,000 votes.

However, the elections will not be a cake walk for Sisodia as both the Congress and the BJP will be fighting the polls with their best foot forward making it a triangular contest. Making the battle in the seat more interesting, the BJP picked Marwah, who has won the seat thrice in 1998, 2003 and 2008.

Additionally, Suri is a four-time councilor and represented Darya Ganj ward. He once unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Okhla. His mother Tajdar Babar was also a respected figure in political circles. She was elected to the Assembly from the erstwhile Minto Road seat.

The constituency witnesses significant presence of Scheduled Caste voters (21 per cent), Punjabis (21 per cent), Other Backward Caste (OBC) voters (13 per cent), Muslims (10 per cent), Sikhs (8 per cent), Vaishyas (5 per cent) and Pandits (4 per cent).

The AAP has won consecutively three times from the seat. In 2020, the seat witnessed sitting AAP MLA from the area Praveen Kumar winning the seat by defeating BJP’s Impreet Singh Bakshi with a margin of 16,063 votes. In 2015, Kumar defeated Maninder Singh Dhir by a margin of 20,450 votes. In both 2020 and 2015, Marwah, who was fielded by the Congress, contested the polls unsuccessfully and stood third.

The constituency is divided into Jangpura, Jangpura Extension, Jangpura A and Jangpura B. It has posh neighbourhoods of south Delhi, including Lajpat Nagar, Nizamuddin (East) and Sundar Nagar, urbanised villages like Kilokari, Bhogal, Nizamuddin Basti and Ashram.

Like the rest of the city, major issues concerning the assembly are lack of parking facilities, and public toilets, broken streets, poor sanitation, dirty water, waterlogging and sewage. Residents have also complained about the inaccessibility of their sitting MLA.

A resident of the area said that there is a sanitation problem in the locality. “Sewer lines are clogged, leading to drain water overflowing onto market streets, which affects business,” he said.

He added that despite promises of cleanliness in the market by the AAP government, heaps of garbage are clearly visible on the road. Businessmen in Lajpat Nagar, which falls under this constituency, complained of lack of parking facilities and public toilets despite being such a reputed market in Delhi.

An electronics shop owner shared how the market toilet has turned into ruins as it has been closed for more than half a decade. “We have to face several hardships because of this. After several complaints to the concerned authorities, no action was taken,” he said. He also highlighted the parking crisis and said, “There is no parking space available near the market, which leads to individuals parking their vehicles on the roads, causing traffic congestion in the area.” Staff Reporter n New Delhi

The electoral battle in the Jangpura Assembly constituency has become a triangular fight with the entry of former Deputy Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia. Making it a closely and keenly watched fight, the Congress has fielded former mayor Farhad Suri and the BJP picked Congress turncoat Tarvinder Singh Marwah. The Jangpura Assembly election stands out as a clash of leadership, legacy, and future aspirations.

The seat has attained the status of a ‘high-profile’ seat, which sees a mix of urban and slum voters, with Sisodia entrance in the fray from here. Despite the party’s previous successes in Jangpura, Sisodia’s candidacy could be seen as a gamble due to his recent controversies, including his alleged involvement in the liquor policy case, which led to his time in custody.

Considered a Congress stronghold once, the Assembly constituency, which is a part of South-east parliamentary constituency, will witness a fierce fight as Sisodia has opted to contest from here rather than the Patparganj assembly constituency, from where he has won three times in 2013, 2015 and 2020. Notably, the BJP has never won the Jangpura Assembly seat, making it a priority to secure its first victory there in the upcoming elections.

Although, the decision to shift to Jangpura, which has 1,47,785 voters, wasn’t a big surprise for many following Sisodia narrowly missing losing in Patparganj in the last election in 2020 by defeating Ravinder Singh Negi, a BJP candidate, by over 3,000 votes.

However, the elections will not be a cake walk for Sisodia as both the Congress and the BJP will be fighting the polls with their best foot forward making it a triangular contest. Making the battle in the seat more interesting, the BJP picked Marwah, who has won the seat thrice in 1998, 2003 and 2008.

Additionally, Suri is a four-time councilor and represented Darya Ganj ward. He once unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Okhla. His mother Tajdar Babar was also a respected figure in political circles. She was elected to the Assembly from the erstwhile Minto Road seat.

The constituency witnesses significant presence of Scheduled Caste voters (21 per cent), Punjabis (21 per cent), Other Backward Caste (OBC) voters (13 per cent), Muslims (10 per cent), Sikhs (8 per cent), Vaishyas (5 per cent) and Pandits (4 per cent).

The AAP has won consecutively three times from the seat. In 2020, the seat witnessed sitting AAP MLA from the area Praveen Kumar winning the seat by defeating BJP’s Impreet Singh Bakshi with a margin of 16,063 votes. In 2015, Kumar defeated Maninder Singh Dhir by a margin of 20,450 votes. In both 2020 and 2015, Marwah, who was fielded by the Congress, contested the polls unsuccessfully and stood third.

The constituency is divided into Jangpura, Jangpura Extension, Jangpura A and Jangpura B. It has posh neighbourhoods of south Delhi, including Lajpat Nagar, Nizamuddin (East) and Sundar Nagar, urbanised villages like Kilokari, Bhogal, Nizamuddin Basti and Ashram.

Like the rest of the city, major issues concerning the assembly are lack of parking facilities, and public toilets, broken streets, poor sanitation, dirty water, waterlogging and sewage. Residents have also complained about the inaccessibility of their sitting MLA.

A resident of the area said that there is a sanitation problem in the locality. “Sewer lines are clogged, leading to drain water overflowing onto market streets, which affects business,” he said.

He added that despite promises of cleanliness in the market by the AAP government, heaps of garbage are clearly visible on the road. Businessmen in Lajpat Nagar, which falls under this constituency, complained of lack of parking facilities and public toilets despite being such a reputed market in Delhi.

An electronics shop owner shared how the market toilet has turned into ruins as it has been closed for more than half a decade. “We have to face several hardships because of this. After several complaints to the concerned authorities, no action was taken,” he said. He also highlighted the parking crisis and said, “There is no parking space available near the market, which leads to individuals parking their vehicles on the roads, causing traffic congestion in the area.”