AAP faces Vishwas Nagar jinx

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested its first election in 2013, and immediately formed the government—albeit a short-lived one—with outside support from the Congress.

- Alok KN Mishra

NEW DELHI: In the next two polls, the party swept the Capital, winning more than 60 out of the 70 assembly seats in the city.

However, 12 years and three assembly elections later, there is only one constituency where the party and its convener Arvind Kejriwal has never tasted victory—Vishwas Nagar in east Delhi.

One of the more popular residential areas in the trans-Yamuna region of Delhi, the constituency comprises the middle- and upper-middle class neighbourhoods of Preet Vihar, Anand Vihar, IP Extension, Jagriti Enclave, Swastha Vihar, Pushpanjali, Bahubali Enclave, and Ram Vihar. Other localities include the villages of Karkardooma, Ghazipur, and Hasanpur, along with the slum clusters of Arya Nagar and Harijan Basti.

According to the final electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India, the seat has 204,780 voters—108,057 male, 96,714 female, and 9 third gender electors.

This year, the AAP hopes that the fourth time's the charm, and has fielded local businessman Deepak Singhal, 38, from the seat. But the going will not be easy—Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate OP Sharma won the seat in the 2013, 2015, and 2020 elections, and has turned a constituency that traditionally voted for the Congress into a BJP stronghold.

The third candidate in the triangular contest is Rajiv Chaudhary, 57, of the Congress.