Every evening Prasad, a resident of West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, goes for a walk and spends time with his neighbours. The 65-year-old retired serviceman is now spending most of his free time discussing politics.

According to Prasad it does not even feel like election season this time. “There is still time in Delhi but even at other places, we did not see much,” Prasad said.

The West Delhi Lok Sabha seat is inhabited by a major chunk of the traders’ community. Areas such as Tilak Nagar, Uttar Nagar, Palam and Janak Puri are hubs of clothing, gold, furniture and food markets.

Prasad feels that there is a tough electoral fight between Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress-Aam Aadmi Party alliance in Delhi. “There is a lot of support for BJP after the Ram Mandir, but the AAP has the people’s vote and affection, majorly due to Kejriwal,” he said.

His friend Vimal, however, claimed that BJP is retaining power in Delhi. “National issues are more important,” Vimal said.

West Delhi Lok Sabha Constituency is one of the seven parliamentary constituencies in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Established in 2008, it emerged as part of the implementation of the recommendations by the Delimitation Commission of India.

Prior to its creation, some portions of this constituency were included in the Outer Delhi constituency, while others were part of the erstwhile South Delhi constituency.

West Delhi constituency comprises 10 Vidhan Sabha (legislative Assembly) constituencies: Madipur (SC), Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Matiala and Najafgarh.

In the 2019 general elections, the incumbent Member of Parliament was Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP had secured a majority, with 865,648 votes, while the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received 2,87,162 and 2,51,873 votes, respectively.

In the previous poll the AAP had fielded Balbir Singh Jakar from West Delhi, who was defeated by the BJP’s Parvesh Singh Verma.

In Dwarka, which has a mixed population of suburban, Jaat and Purvanchali population, there is much discussion over tea at small stalls. Discussions on Uttar Pradesh CM Adityanath have begun in the narrow gullies of Dwarka.

This time, BJP has fielded Kamaljeet Sehrawat to contest from the seat. Sehrawat is a law graduate and former PG teacher of commerce.

According to reports she is known for her “public connect”. She has held various organisational positions in the Delhi BJP as well as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and was the Mayor of the South MCD from 2017 to 2018.

Though she contested the 2008 Delhi Assembly elections unsuccessfully, Sehrawat has risen in the organisational ranks of the party’s state unit over several decades.

She has served as district vice-president from Najafgarh to Secretary, president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, and Delhi BJP vice-president. She currently serves as the only woman general secretary of the three such posts in the Delhi BJP.

Expressing her gratitude towards the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat told ANI, “I did not even expect that, this is a big surprise for me. I have been given this huge responsibility. I would like to thank PM Narendra Modi and BJP national president JP Nadda for giving me this opportunity.”

Meanwhile, former Congress leader, now from the AAP, Mahabal Mishra, 70, is standing opposite Sehrawat this time. Mishra is the senior-most among the four AAP nominees.

A known face in the rural belt of Delhi and the Purvanchali community, Mishra has been given a ticket from West Delhi. Born on July 31, 1953, Mishra belongs to the Madhubani district in Bihar.

He holds a diploma in Transistor Theory from LS College in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Mr Mishra started his political journey with a win in the MCD elections in 1997-98 on a Congress ticket from the Dabri ward of West Delhi.

That electoral temperatures are yet to rise in Delhi can be gauged by the silence that drapes the local BJP office in Dwarka. An old man is fast asleep inside. The office is decorated with the party flags. The old man who has woken up from his nap, claims that regular meetings are taking place here.

Outside the office, the food vendors are not bothered about the activities inside. “We are just here selling juice. Elections are here so there is some hustle bustle, but mostly the office stays silent. We don’t bother,” Amit, a vendor who has been selling in the area for the past three years said.

On asking who he thinks will win, Amit said he is not interested in speculations and predictions. However, his friend Narain, said that his vote would go to “jhadu” for the work they have done for the people. “I do not know who will win, but our vote will go to jhadu,” Narain added.

Meanwhile, a close aide of Mishra, on the condition of anonymity, told The Citizen that things are looking positive for them this time. “Honestly, the response from the people has been good,” they said.

On asking what factors do they think is towards this change, to which the close associate to Mishra said, “Our math is simple. In 2020, AAP won over BJP by a margin of 2.3 Lakh votes. Then in the 2022 MCD elections, only West Delhi and New Delhi were the constituencies that won over BJP by a margin of more than lakh votes. West Delhi has about 65% of AAP councillors (24 out of 38) and all 10 MLA are from AAP.”

Before leaving the Congress to join the AAP in November 2022, Mishra was a former West Delhi MP. He had also been an MLA thrice on the Congress’s ticket. His son Vinay Mishra is currently the AAP MLA from Dwarka.

Visiting the famous Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place on Tuesday, Mishra has claimed that he will win these elections.

The constituency, it seems, is divided on who will win, but it is to be noted that the competition is mostly between AAP and BJP. According to the people that The Citizen spoke to, it was either “jhadu” or “kamal” that would come to power in Delhi.

West Delhi has not witnessed any major political rallies as of now, but the candidates have been visiting constituencies and assuring people with promises, if they vote for them.

However, The Citizen found many pressing issues such as the water and electricity crisis and women safety among major concerns.

“With the onset of summer, the situation here is going to get bad. Electricity and water still remain major issues, especially in slum areas,” Monika, a resident of Janak Puri said.

For the business community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face is enough for them to cast their vote for him. “My business has flourished under the BJP and Modi has done so much for the development of the country that the people should vote for him,” Anil Kumar, who has a private business told The Citizen.

For others, however, there is anger due to Kejriwal’s arrest. “Things are scary,” Deepti, a lawyer based in Tilak Nagar said.

She pointed out that West Delhi is still considered one of the most chaotic constituencies. “The traffic issues, and women's safety, according to me are something that should be looked at here,” Deepti added.

While with Kejriwal’s scheme many CCTVs were implemented in various parts of Delhi, their impact has not been much, according to Deepti.

For many women, who work as domestic workers in homes, sometimes extra precaution has to be taken. The same sentiments were shared by many women from different areas of West Delhi.

“Women safety is not just one region issue, but sort of a national problem. And despite promises, we have not seen major changes. Only, now we are even more hesitant to approach police officials if something happens,” Deepti added.

Meanwhile, Matiala and Madipur, which have a majority of Schedule Caste votes, will be an interesting seat and will see Sehrawat and Mishra competing intensely for votes.

All photographs Nikita Jain

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NIKITA JAIN