NEW DELHI: Rajinder Nagar constituency in the capital is scheduled to go for by-elections on June 23. The seat got vacant after AAP’s Raghav Chadha got nominated for Rajya Sabha. A high decibel contest is expected between the AAP and BJP candidates.
This is the first election in Delhi after the unification of the three municipal corporations of Delhi. The primary issues which will hover over the election campaign are expected to be civic matters, water crisis (including the quality of water supplied) and concerns over parking.
According to Harish Singh, a Rajinder Nagar resident, illegal parking in front of houses has become a headache for residents. “Neither BJP nor AAP has addressed this,” he said. Apart from parking woes, roads dug up at several places have led to problems for motorists. Roads have been dug up here with works progressing on the sewer line.
Navneet Singh, a shop owner, said that there sewer lines have been overflowing near his house and adjacent locality. According to him, he complained about this to the officials concerned and the issue got sorted. However, the overflowing relapses every other month, he said.
The irregular and dirty supply of water is a major issue for people. Septuagenarian Deepak Grover, a resident, said, “Sometimes we are getting water on alternate days and sometime at midnight”. According to him, the issue is still prevailing, despite the fact that Raghav Chadha was the vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board.
However, Khushal, a resident, is happy with the working of AAP government. He said, “By providing free electricity and water, AAP has fulfilled their promises. AAP’s focus on people related issues has cemented their position in Delhi.”The last date to file the nomination was June 6. AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak, BJP candidate Rajesh Bhatia and Congress candidate Prem Lata filed their respective nomination papers.
According to BJP candidate Rajesh Bhatia, “My main focus during this election is civic issues like supply of water, parking and sewer issue”. He also said that in 2016, being councillor of Rajinder Nagar, he proposed multi-level parking to accommodate 900 vehicles. But, the funding for the work got stopped by the AAP government, he said. While AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak was unavailable for comment, Congress’ Prem Lata was recently admitted to the Ganga Ram Hospital due to a medical emergency.