NEW DELHI: Situated on the north-western edge of Delhi, Narela is a dichotomous locality comprised of dense urban villages and massive housing projects by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
The DDA had envisioned Narela as a mega ‘sub-city’, akin to Dwarka and Rohini. The authority has constructed over 47,000 flats here since 2010. However, 40,000 of these flats remain unsold, with many labelling the locality a ‘Ghost Town’.
Outside of the DDA’s planned housing projects, residents of Narela’s urban villages face the same host of issues that plague other parts of Delhi, including sanitation, congestion, and infrastructural issues. However, the most pressing concern for most residents is transportation.
“We need better connectivity to the city centre. The closest metro station is 15km away, and DTC bus service is also inadequate here. It is far more convenient for us to travel to Sonipat than to commute to the centre of Delhi,” said Vinay Mis hra, a resident of Swatantra Nagar in Narela.
In the past, the constituency has elected candidates from all three major parties, with the Congress winning the seat three times and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) winning twice each. AAP’s Sharad Chouhan has represented the constituency since 2015, winning almost 60% of the vote share in 2015 and 52% in 2020, defeating the BJP’s Neel Daman Khatri, a former MLA, on both occasions.
Narela forms part of the North West Delhi parliamentary constituency, which is a Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved constituency. The BJP won the seat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with Udit Raj winning 48.85% of the votes from Narela in 2014 and Hans Raj Hans winning 62.5% in 2019. AAP’s Rakhi Birla had managed to bag 37% of the votes in 2014, but this was reduced to 18.8% in 2019 when Gugan Singh Ranga contested on the party ticket.
The BJP has once again denied the ticket to its sitting MP, nominating former North Delhi Mayor and general secretary of the state unit Yogendra Chandolia. Sources say that Chandolia was nominated as part of a bid to reward long-time party loyalists, overcome anti-incumbency, and fulfil caste criteria. On the other hand, the Congress party, which is contesting the seat as part of the INDIA alliance, is yet to announce its candidate.