Defence Colony, Kotla Mubarakpur: 2 sides of same poll

In 2012, a year that had seen the highest polling in MCD polls in 15 years, the Congress had won the Kasturba Nagar ward — where Defence Colony lies. Like then, the three parties in the fray have campaigned little here, and instead focused their energies on less affluent areas within the ward, residents explained. As one Congress leader said, “What’s the point? Most don’t even know what the MCD does. The others don’t care enough to vote.”

But some in Defence Colony said the relative disinterest of political parties was, in fact, furthering the apathy. Shyampal Singh, a retired government official, said, “These elections, no one has any excuse. It is the most publicised MCD elections I have ever seen. But political parties should interact more with the people here.”

There were no such problems, however, across the road at Kotla. Campaigning in the past few weeks had been fierce and ceaseless. At the SC-reserved ward, the primary candidates in the fray are Bhagat Singh (BSP), Krishan Kohli (AAP), Brij Pal (INC) and Vinod Kumar (BJP). “Every single party here has been campaigning intensely. The BJP has been saying that people should vote for them so that they can improve the area like the rest of the country. The other parties have also focused on these issues. But we aren’t too hopeful,” said Parvesh Rana, a vegetable-seller.

Meanwhile at the Kasturba Nagar ward, residents said the poll was likely to be a three-way fight between Sushma Sikka of INC, Seema Malik of the BJP and Avneet Arora of AAP. “This has always been a traditional BJP neighbourhood, but had voted for AAP. But even though there was so much expectation, they have delivered little — especially on the sanitation and health front,” said Nandini Gera, a resident.