Why Delhi’s slum-dwellers will be a crucial factor in Assembly polls

While the AAP has targeted the BJP over demolitions in slums in Tughalakabad, Sundar Nagari, Okhla, and other places ahead of the G-20 Summit in 2023, the BJP launched the “Jhuggi Vistarak Yojana” just after it won all seven seats of Delhi in last year’s Lok Sabha elections. 

The Congress, which is looking to open its account, is conducting a door-to-door survey in slums to focus on all sections of the electorate. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will kickstart the party’s campaign on Monday with a “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan” rally in Zero Pushta of Seelampur, which houses slums and an unauthorised colony. The party has also roped in former MLA and popular Dalit leader Veer Singh Dhingan and former AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam to boost its chances.

On Sunday, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal continued his party’s attempts to keep this key voter base intact and said he would not contest the coming elections if Union Home Minister Amit Shah signed an affidavit promising houses to slum dwellers and withdrew cases registered against them. He was speaking at an event in the Shakur Basti constituency.

A senior AAP leader admitted that “increased anti-incumbency” may lead to a changed scenario, adding that the party was going all-out to tell slum dwellers about the benefits of voting again for it and its welfare schemes. 

According to Delhi government data, South Delhi constituency has around 67,000 households in slum areas while the West Delhi seat has the lowest, with around 22,000 households.

Slums in Delhi are inhabited mostly by migrants who hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, and comprise people from across communities. They form a significant chunk of beneficiaries of AAP’s welfare schemes such as free electricity and mohalla clinics.

BJP’s game plan

The BJP’s efforts are visible too as its top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, repeatedly referred to slum dwellers in their addresses. Earlier this month, Modi inaugurated houses for slum-dwellers under the BJP’s “Jaha jhuggi, waha makan” campaign, while the Union Home Minister addressed a public meeting in an unauthorised colony on Saturday. The party has stepped up its efforts in the slums, with party leaders, workers, and 250 vistaraks — locals it has appointed to help with the outreach — have been working at the booth level and interacting with locals, women and children.

BJP’s Jhuggi “Vistarak Abhiyan” in-charge and Delhi BJP general secretary Vishnu Mittal explained why parties were going all-out to reach out to slum dwellers. “There are around 15 lakh voters in the slums of Delhi, of which around 9-10 lakh cast their vote. Of this around seven lakh people vote for the AAP while the BJP gets two lakh votes. The remaining vote for the Congress and other parties … Even if we can sway another four to five lakh of these votes in our favour, it will be a game-changer,” he said.

Mittal said the BJP came up with the scheme after conducting extensive surveys and interacting with people on the ground to “gain their trust”. “We also realised that a large number of slum-dwellers are unaware of Central government schemes. But we are making them aware of how the BJP has successfully implemented cash-for-women schemes in other states while the AAP has failed to do it in Punjab,” he said, adding that while slum-dwellers had been voting for AAP due to free amenities, only a few were receiving them now. 

A BJP leader admitted that the party had not managed to connect with slum-dwellers so far and this time adopted a “humanitarian” approach. “We are spending time with them, listening to grievances and making them believe that they are not merely a vote bank,” the leader said.

Admitting that a large section of slum-dwellers still favours the AAP, another BJP leader claimed that even a 10% shift of votes in the slums will help it.