AAP’s New Delhi candidate Brijesh Goyal Tuesday claimed voters were angry with incumbent BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi as she did not address the sealing issue. Goyal was campaigning in Paharganj, where he said the contest for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi was between the BJP and AAP. He said the Congress had lost its base and that a vote for the party will be a wasted vote. “People are very angry with Lekhi because she has been absent from the constituency for five years. They are voting after considering the work done by Arvind Kejriwal in terms of electricity, water, education and health.” If elected, Goyal said he would address issues such as sealing, women’s safety, unemployment, parking, and problems with pension of civil servants in his constituency. He also said that if the state government wishes, it could provide relief to traders from sealing by introducing an ordinance and making amendments to the Delhi Master Plan 2021, which lays down planning guidelines for socio-economic activities in the city. However, in the bylanes of Paharganj’s Mantolla Mohalla and Tel Mandi, where Goyal was campaigning, locals and shop owners aired sanitation and improper sewage system among their concerns. Amit (30), who owns a general store and a tailoring business in Mantolla, said lowering electricity charges was the only good thing the AAP government has done: “Sanitation and a proper sewage system is a big problem here. Our drains get choked during rain, leading to water logging. Our MLA and the MCD keep blaming each other, nothing gets done.” Pavan Chhabra (48), who runs a family-owned cloth business, said the area was poorly maintained despite being popular among international tourists. “The government should do something. Paharganj is famous across the world, it should look like a place that’s worthy of it,” he said. Laxman Singh Bhandari (70), who paints idols and makes artwork in his shop in Tel Mandi, wondered what benefit full statehood will have for financially weaker sections of society: “Our backs were broken after introduction of GST and demonetisation. There is a lot of unemployment in the area and people are not able to sustain themselves.”
