NEW DELHI: Nestled deep within West Delhi, Hari Nagar is a microcosm of modern Delhi. Alongside plush DDA flats and posh bungalows are haphazardly constructed unauthorised colonies and bustling markets plaguing with traffic congestion and garbage littered streets.
According to residents, the perennial issue of parking scarcitylooms large. Namit Arora, a local resident said, “Finding a parking spot here is an extremely difficult. Fights over parking spaces are quite common.”
Residents highlight the recurring problem of flood during rains, a predicament aggravated by municipal inaction despite repeated complaints.
The area is also prone to frequent incidents of fire owing to unplanned construction on encroached land. Power lines and poles hanging dangerously low in the narrow lanes add to the hazard. Those living in nearby Fateh Nagar complained of poor sanitation and a lack of cleanliness in the locality. “Municipal workers come and collect garbage but do nothing about the litter in the streets. Open drains and leaking sewage are common here,” said resident Chavi Yadav.
The Hari Nagar assembly constituency has been a major stronghold for the AAP with the party winning all three wards in the constituency in the 2022 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls. The Sikh community is dominant in the region leading to most parties fielding Sikh candidates.
The BJP’s Harsharan Singh Balli had represented the constituency from 1993 to 2013. However, AAP’s Jagdeep Singh won the seat in 2013 and 2015, with the Shiromani Akali Dal finishing second on both occasions. AAP replaced the incumbent Singh from the constituency in 2020 with Raj Kumari Dhillon, who managed to retain the seat by defeating the BJP’s Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga with a margin of over 20,000 votes.
However, as part of the West Delhi parliamentary constituency, Hari Nagar has leaned towards the saffron party with the party’s Parvesh Verma winning 47.18 per cent of the votes in 2014. He managed to increase this lead in 2019, winning 56.8% of the votes in this assembly segment.
For the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has replaced Verma with Kamaljeet Sehrawat, general secretary of the party’s Delhi unit and a former mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Meanwhile, AAP has nominated former Congress MP Mahabal Mishra, who is seen as the face of the Purvanchali community in West Delhi. The constituency will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth-phase of Lok Sabha elections.
