NEW DELHI: Delhi Cantonment, once an isolated area away from the hustle and bustle of Delhi, is slowly being surrounded by the civilian population. However, the area still manages to retain its old charm.
Established in 1914 by the British, the Delhi Cantonment, like similar installations, was strategically located away from the city centre. Initially serving primarily military functions, it gradually evolved into a bustling enclave, attracting civilians who provided various services to the soldiers.
Today, it stands as a ‘category I’ cantonment, boasting a civilian population exceeding 50,000. The cantonment encompasses schools, hospitals, air bases, the Army’s Delhi area headquarters, the Directorate of General Defence Estates, and the Controller General of Defence Accounts.
“The core areas of the cantonment have barely changed in the past few decades. Unlike the chaos in Delhi, traffic here is smooth, well-organized and quiet. However, there are chaotic areas like Gopinath Bazar and Sadar Bazar, populated mostly by civilians,” said longtime resident Surendra Prakash.
The Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituency is the third-smallest in the capital, with just 1,30,000 electors. In the past, the seat has been won by all three major parties in the capital.
The BJP’s Karan Singh Tanwar has been the tallest leader in the constituency, having been his party’s nominee in all elections from 1993 to 2015, winning in 1993, 2003 and 2008.
The Congress Party’s Kiran Chaudhary won in 1998, while the Aam Aadmi Party’s Surinder Singh won in 2013 and 2015.
In 2020, both AAP and BJP decided to field fresh candidates. AAP’s Virender Singh Kadian managed to retain the city for his party, defeating BJP’s Manish Singh by a margin of 10,000 votes.
The constituency forms part of the New Delhi constituency and leaned heavily towards the saffron party in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
For the 2024 polls, the BJP has replaced incumbent MP Meenakshi Lekhi with Bansuri Swaraj, a supreme court lawyer and daughter of former Union Minister and Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj.
She will be up against the INDIA alliance candidate, AAPs Somnath Bharti who has won three elections from Malviya Nagar.