Slums, workers hold key to winning Delhi

About 93% of Delhi’s work force lives in slums, locally called jhuggis, and whichever government takes charge of Delhi will find it difficult to ignore those who live in these long-ignored and illegal dwellings.

This workforce is part of the 11% of Delhi’s population that inhabits the slums of the world’s second-most populous city. Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections scheduled for February 7, political parties have promised a slum makeover, as we reported earlier.

Home to at least 1.7 million people, the slums—spread across 61 of 70 assembly constituencies—hold the key to winning Delhi. They also appear to be bellwethers of victory.

The areas where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in the 2013 assembly elections were those with the most slums. The BJP had the support of 52.5% of Delhi’s slums, compared to 36.5% who voted for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).That was reflected in the BJP finishing first and the AAP second in 2013.

What is a slum? Answering this question is relevant because Delhi is home to sprawling unauthorised colonies that may not be classified as slums but may share its living conditions and voting preferences.

The Slum Area Improvement and Clearance Act, 1956, defines slums as residential areas where houses are “unfit for human habitation for reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding, narrowness of streets, lack of ventilation and sanitation facilities, which are detrimental to safety, health and morals”.

A total of 304,188 slums have been reported in Delhi, spread across 61 constituencies. Moti Nagar with 25,021 jhuggis and Tughlakabad (23,495 jhuggis) have been Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongholds, which the party won in the 2008 and 2013 assembly elections. BJP won the Wazirpur (13,736 jhuggis) seat in 2013 from the Congress, which had won in 2008 by a margin of just 3.54%, a sign of its declining fortunes.

Similarly, Model Town (11,966 jhuggis) and R K Puram (10,894 jhuggis), once Congress bastions, were won by the AAP and the BJP, respectively, in 2013.

Here is what happened: All three parties have promised permanent housing to people living in more than 3 lakh slums in Delhi. One of the key challenges would be to allow people to continue living in the same area. Below are excerpts from the party manifestos detailing the various promises made to slum-dwellers.

By: Chaitanya Mallapur