NEW DELHI: Situated on the southeastern outskirts of the city, the Chhatarpur locality is primarily renowned for the Chhattarpur Temple. Spanning across a sprawling complex encompassing 70 acres of land, it stands as the second-largest temple in Delhi and serves as a significant pilgrimage site for devotees from across the country.
However, the locality is grappling with severe congestion and sanitation issues. Originally just a village on the outskirts of Delhi, Chhatarpur has witnessed an influx of new migrants in recent years. Many of these are white-collar workers from Gurgaon seeking more affordable housing, attracted by the locality’s proximity to the Delhi Metro’s yellow line, providing an easy commute to Gurgaon. This influx has led to uncontrolled construction and encroachments springing up to accommodate the new migrants, resulting in traffic congestion, particularly in the narrow inner lanes.
Another pressing issue tormenting residents is constant waterlogging during the monsoon season. “We have grown accustomed to waterlogging. It’s not confined to the monsoon; rather, it persists throughout the year due to blocked drains,” remarked Saif Imam, a resident of Chhatarpur Extension. These issues extend to several other nearby localities, including Maidan Garhi, Neb Sarai, and Saiddullajab.
These localities constitute part of the Chhatarpur assembly constituency, which has been represented by the Aam Aadmi Party’s Kartar Singh Tanwar since 2015. Tanwar secured 49.13% of the votes in 2020 and 54.29% in 2015, defeating Brahm Singh Tanwar from the Bharatiya Janata Party on both occasions.
However, similar to other constituencies in the capital, residents here overwhelmingly voted in favor of the BJP in the last two general elections as part of the South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. BJP’s Ramesh Bidhri garnered 57.11% and 53.29% of the votes in this assembly segment in 2019 and 2014 respectively. Meanwhile, AAP has managed to secure between 25-30% of the vote during the same period. The Congress Party has remained a distant third.
The saffron party has made a surprising decision by denying the ticket to the two-time MP and instead nominating Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and MLA from the Badarpur assembly constituency. Delhi BJP leaders suggest that Ramesh Bidhuri lost his ticket possibly due to a recent controversy involving his abusive and derogatory behavior towards Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali in Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party has nominated two-time Tughlaqabad MLA Sahiram Pahalwan from the constituency. Pahalwan has been involved in grassroots politics since 1993 and is known to have a deep understanding of local politics, having previously contested elections for the Congress and the BSP.