Home to a populace scattered across several urbanised villages and resettlement colonies on either side of an elevated Delhi Metro track, the west Delhi constituency of Uttam Nagar is considered the key to the rural belts located towards its South.
Also host to a significant Poorvanchali migrant population, the battle lines in the constituency have been drawn across a wide range of area-specific issues this year.
While residents of villages such as Bindapur and Nawada for instance, would vote for better infrastructural amenities especially in terms of quality roads, sewage and sanitation facilities in areas further away from the main Najafgarh Road, the latter, from Mohan Garden and Subhash Park, are expected to be drawn towards more general issues such as the prices of power and water.
“Open drains and water shortage are major problems that we residents have to face while traffic on the main road and lack of connectivity to the metro stations in the area is an issue that those who stay in areas such as Vishnu Garden face,” said a resident.
A three-way contest had ensued at the constituency last year with two of the major political contenders – the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — sticking to their old guns, Mukesh Sharma and Pawan Sharma, respectively, this year too as well. The former is a four-time legislator and lost to Pawan Sharma in 2013 in a close contest.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has replaced its candidate Deshraj Raghav, whose candidature was apparently aimed at targetting the Poorvanchali community spread across the constituency, with Naresh Balyan, who is expected to be a hit among the Jats occupying the myriad urban villages in its vicinity.
Both Raghav and Balyan, who recently jumped over to AAP from BJP, are municipal councillors and are supposed to have a considerable hold in their area.
Constituency Watch – Uttam Nagar
Three main contenders in 2015
BJP: Pawan Sharma AAP: Naresh Balyan Congress: Mukesh Sharma
