NEW DELHI: Nestled within the narrow, congested bylanes of the bustling Chandni Chowk market lies the Ballimaran assembly constituency. Flanked by the recently launched café, The Chowk, on the right-hand side and wholesale shops selling slippers and shoes on the left, this area is steeped in history yet struggling with modern-day challenges.
Once considered one of the oldest colonies of Old Delhi and home to the master of Urdu poetry, Mirza Ghalib, much of Ballimaran has transformed into a wholesale market. Vibrant with shops selling shoes, watches, spectacles, and bangles, the streets are perpetually congested with honking vehicles from dawn till dusk.
Ballimaran assembly constituency forms a part of the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency, reorganised by the delimitation commission in 2008. Since the 2015 assembly election, Imran Hussain from the Aam Aadmi Party has consistently won the elections here.
With a total of 128,946 voters, comprising 56,980 women and 71,963 men, Ballimaran witnessed the highest voter turnout of 71.6% among all 70 assembly seats in the national capital in 2020.
Historically, the name Ballimaran derives from the boatmen (‘ballis’) who once resided here, plying their boats along the nearby river. Additionally, Ballimaran was renowned as the abode of Delhi’s famed hakims, whose houses and clinics still stand.
For the locals, the narrow, congested by lanes, lack of evening street lights, and overhead power cables epitomize Ballimaran. Traders who have been rooted in this area for over four decades lament the neglect it faces. The narrow congested bylanes, lack of street lights in the evening, And overhead power cables are synonymous to Ballimaran as per the local traders who have been staying in the area for over 40 years.
The traders who own shops here for the past few decades say that the Ballimaran is not apparently a small proportion of Delhi, it is a full assembly and still this part of Old Delhi is totally neglected “You enter the lane and find more roadside vendors than shops; they’ve encroached upon spaces in front of our gates,” laments Arif Alam, a long-time shop owner.
Resident Kehkashan echoes similar sentiments, emphasizing the pressing need for government intervention. “Our constituency requires significant attention as we grapple with issues like narrow lanes, unruly traffic, dangling wires, and inadequate sanitation.
Water logging during monsoons compounds the challenges faced by residents,” she asserts. The Chandni Chowk constituency will be going to polls on May 25. The BJP has replaced its sitting MP Dr Harsh Varshan with Praveen Khandelwal, a Delhi-based trader. Congress, in alliance with Aam Aadmi Party is yet to announce its candidate.