Burari Assembly Elections 2020: AAP, BJP vie for Purvanchali votes in populous seat; unauthorised colonies dictate poll narrative

Burari Assembly Elections 2020 | The Burari Assembly constituency in North East Delhi is home to a large number of north Indians migrating to the national capital in search of a livelihood, ergo, the politics here predictably centers around the inclusivity for migrants and authorisation of illegal settlements. Part of North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, Burari Assembly constituency covers the census town of the same name. Along with other Assembly constituencies of Delhi, Burari will go to polls on 8 February. In total, 1.46 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming election. A total of 13,750 polling stations will conduct polling across the Union Territory. The fight in Burari is mainly between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Here is a brief profile of Burari

Constituency Name: Burari
Constituency Number: 2
District Name: North East Delhi
Total Electors: 2,88,420
Female Electors: 1,25,500
Male Electors: 1,62,906
Third Gender: 14
Reserved: No

Results in previous elections: The seat came into existence after the delimitation exercise in 2008, and since then the seat has sent a BJP representative once and AAP candidate twice to the Delhi Assembly. In the 2008 polls, BJP's Shri Krishan won the election, however, he could not repeat his performance in the two subsequent polls. Since 2013, AAP's Sanjeev Jha has been the MLA from here.

In 2013, when the AAP contested elections the first time, Jha won by 10,000 votes and in 2015 he defeated Gopal Jha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by 68,000 votes, securing 63.82 percent of the votes.

This year, however, BJP has sharpened its Purvanchali pitch by making Bhojpuri singer and well-known actor, Manoj Tiwari, its state unit president. The party, which is at the power in the Centre, has also brought in a law to regularise the unauthorised colonies — a long-standing demand of the people here — which is likely to be a key talking point in these elections.

Demographics: Considered one of the backwards areas of Delhi, it is home to a large section of Purvanchalis – people from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh – migrants. Lack of potable drinking water, unauthorised colonies and poor roads are among the key problems faced by residents of this populous area. Burari Assembly constituency comprises Ibrahimpur, Jahangirpuri Resettlement Colony and Nathupura and rural settlements like Mukandpur, Nangli Poona, Jagatpur, Kadipur and Mukhmelpur.

January 16, 2020 at 12:26PM