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Outer Delhi`s 21 seats hold key to power
New Delhi, Nov 22: Boasting of being part of the country`s largest parliamentary constituency, outcome of polling in 21 of the 70 assembly seats in Outer Delhi hold the key to which party will form government in Delhi.
New Delhi, Nov 22: Boasting of being part of the
country's largest parliamentary constituency, outcome of
polling in 21 of the 70 assembly seats in Outer Delhi hold the
key to which party will form government in Delhi.
Realising this potential, both the ruling Congress and
main opposition BJP are concentrating on this sprawling
constituency spread from South East Delhi to North West Delhi
through the South.
Having a combined population of Jats, backwards and the migrants from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, nearly 30 lakh voters have the potential to decide who will occupy the seat of power in the Capital for another five years.
A number of leaders from both Congress and BJP claim a strong base in the parliamentary constituency but the electoral fortunes of the two parties have been vacillating from one election to another.
Of the Congress' total of 54 seats in the last 1998 assembly elections, 16 had come from Outer Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
BJP had to be content with a mere four even though it had secured 12 seats in the 1993 assembly polls, leaving only six to Congress, which brought the saffron party to power. The electorate of Outer Delhi reposed trust in BJP again in 1999 Lok Sabha polls, electing its Jat leader Sahib Singh Varma.
While BJP will again have to rely on Varma's support, Congress will depend on the popularity of Sajjan Kumar who had represented the Lok Sabha seat earlier, besides that of state unit president Chaudhary Prem Singh.
Prem Singh, a veteran backward class leader who has never lost at the hustings in his traditional Ambedkar Nagar seat, is the strongest candidate fielded by Congress.
In an effort to break his successful run, BJP has fielded a fresher Suresh Pahelwan. Among other prominent candidates contesting from the area are Delhi education minister Raj Kumar Chauhan from Mangolpuri (SC) seat and finance minister M S Saathi from Vishnu Garden.
Congress' vocal leader and Delhi unit spokesman Mukesh Sharma is making a bid to retain his Hastsal seat for the third time against Bjp's Rajesh Yadav.
For BJP, its chief whip in the assembly Nand Kishore Garg will attempt a hat-trick from Tri Nagar constituency fighting it out against youth Congress general secretary Anil Bhardwaj.
Bureau Report
Having a combined population of Jats, backwards and the migrants from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, nearly 30 lakh voters have the potential to decide who will occupy the seat of power in the Capital for another five years.
A number of leaders from both Congress and BJP claim a strong base in the parliamentary constituency but the electoral fortunes of the two parties have been vacillating from one election to another.
Of the Congress' total of 54 seats in the last 1998 assembly elections, 16 had come from Outer Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
BJP had to be content with a mere four even though it had secured 12 seats in the 1993 assembly polls, leaving only six to Congress, which brought the saffron party to power. The electorate of Outer Delhi reposed trust in BJP again in 1999 Lok Sabha polls, electing its Jat leader Sahib Singh Varma.
While BJP will again have to rely on Varma's support, Congress will depend on the popularity of Sajjan Kumar who had represented the Lok Sabha seat earlier, besides that of state unit president Chaudhary Prem Singh.
Prem Singh, a veteran backward class leader who has never lost at the hustings in his traditional Ambedkar Nagar seat, is the strongest candidate fielded by Congress.
In an effort to break his successful run, BJP has fielded a fresher Suresh Pahelwan. Among other prominent candidates contesting from the area are Delhi education minister Raj Kumar Chauhan from Mangolpuri (SC) seat and finance minister M S Saathi from Vishnu Garden.
Congress' vocal leader and Delhi unit spokesman Mukesh Sharma is making a bid to retain his Hastsal seat for the third time against Bjp's Rajesh Yadav.
For BJP, its chief whip in the assembly Nand Kishore Garg will attempt a hat-trick from Tri Nagar constituency fighting it out against youth Congress general secretary Anil Bhardwaj.
Bureau Report