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Delhi Assembly Elections: What The Purvanchal Vote Means To AAP, BJP And Congress
As Delhi goes to polls on February 8, the Purvanchali factor has been high on the minds of leaderships of all political parties.
As Delhi goes to polls on February 8, the Purvanchali factor has been high on the minds of leaderships of all political parties. People from Bihar, Eastern UP and Jharkhand constitute about 30% of the Delhi electorate, it is said. The Purvanchali factor is known to be a swing element in about 20 assembly constituencies.
The BJP, on its part, is going to the polls with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal- United (JDU) as its partner. It has also projected Manoj Tiwari strategically as one of its key faces spearheading the campaign in the national capital.
Kirti Azad, among others, represents the Purvanchali face of the Congress in Delhi. The Congress is known to have a sizeable chunk of the Purvanchali vote. The son of former Bihar chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad and former MP from Bihar himself, Kirti Azad has been made the chairman of campaign committee for Delhi assembly elections. The Congress also brings in the factor of its alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad Yadav and has also offered four seats to the RJD.
In 2015, the Aam Aadmi party fielded about a dozen candidates from the Purvanchali community and brought this section into sharp focus in electoral calculations. It was then that the BJP and Congress realised the Purvanchali factor in the Delhi voter base.
As for AAP, in the run-up to the Delhi assembly elections, the party organised AAPan Poorvanchal festival at 300 places in Delhi. It also introduced Maithili, a very old language spoken widely in North Bihar, as an optional subject in government schools in the national capital.
AAP also pointed out that it had built over 1000 ghats in Delhi for one of the most important festivals for Purvanchalis—Chhath. The BJP, not to be outdone, has promised permanent ghats for Chhath along the Yamuna river. The ruling party at the Centre has offered to develop the Yamuna riverfront on which these ghats will be built.
The question however, remains—will the Purvanchali voters decide to back parties as a homogenous entity?
