AAP, BJP intensify campaign to win votes of slum residents

With three weeks to go for the Delhi Assembly elections, the battle to win over residents of slums - a critical vote bank in the Capital - intensified on Sunday, with both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempting to woo over electors.

- Paras Singh

The AAP claimed that the BJP will "demolish all slums in Delhi" if it is voted to power in the Capital. The BJP dismissed the allegation, and alleged that since it came to power in the Capital over a decade ago, the AAP has only "incited people" and has not "improved their lives".

Estimates suggest that a tenth of Delhi's voters - 1.5 million people - live in slum clusters, and these electors constitute a major chunk in constituencies such as Narela, Adarsh Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, Rajendra Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Badarpur, Tughlakabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Seemapuri, Babarppur, Trilokpuri, Kondli, Okhla, Moti Nagar, Madipur, Shalimar Bagh, Matiala and Kirari.

Kejriwal: BJP plans to demolish slums

Speaking at a slum cluster at Shakur Basti in north Delhi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the BJP plans to demolish the slums in the city and "hand over the land to builders".

"The BJP is a party of wealthy people, they just want their votes before the election and they will take their land after the elections," he claimed.

Kejriwal was accompanied by Satyendar Jain, the sitting MLA from Shakur Basti who is seeking re-election from the seat for a fourth time.

Kejriwal claimed that the BJP's Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Makaan (where there is a slum, there will be a flat) scheme as "an eyewash".