Rajouri Garden bypoll: Voters say leaders change, but issues remain the same

From roadshows to jansabhas attended by star campaigners, the political parties did everything to draw voters out for the Saturday bypoll held in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden assembly constituency. The voter turnout on D-Day, however, failed to impress.

Those who did come out had several complains, the most common of which was that their area had been neglected for several years. They said that though the candidates changed, the issues remained the same.

Voters in the constituency listed parking, unauthorised construction, road maintenance, sanitation and sewerage as main issues that have remained unresolved for years now.

Satyam Singh, resident of J block, Rajouri Graden said, “My relatives have to park their cars at least 3 kilometre away whenever they visit us. People fighting over parking is a common sight in the area. The authorities haven’t come up with any solution.”

Two multi-level parking lots were to come up in the area, but both remain incomplete.

Others listed sanitation, health and education as some other issues plaguing the area .

Madhvi Devi of Khayala village said, “It’s people from villages who come out to vote. But, facilities are being provided in urban areas. During the rainy season, there is knee-deep water here,”

The Rajouri Garden constituency is a mix of upscale Rajouri Garden, unauthorised and slum clusters in Vishnu Garden area and Khayala, an urban village.

In Subhash Nagar JJ colony, voters said though roads have been built over the past few years, their maintenance was an issue.

Mubarak Sah, who had come to cast his vote in a nearby school, said, “Look at the roads here. It was built four years ago but looking at their present condition it looks like it was never repaired.”

While people like Kartik Singh of Vishnu Garden expressed happy over reduced electricity bills, others living on rent areas like Pushp Garden, Madhi Wali Colony, Shyam Nagar Extension said that they had not got any respite as their landlords still charged them R 8 per unit, which is almost double of what kartik pays.

Mohammad Rashid of Khyala JJ Colony said, “What did we get. We are still paying large amount as electricity bill. We want the rules to be tweaked in a way that we too pay whatever our landlords do.”