As it headed into the main polls on May 25, North East Delhi, a seat whose story has been majorly based along communal lines, is poised for another exciting Lok Sabha election. Manoj Tiwari of the BJP and Kanhaiya Kumar of the Congress, the two leading contenders, are the major reasons why it has effectively grown into a significant seat while its result is eagerly awaited.
India Today-Axis My India has predicted a clear lead for incumbent BJP MP Manoj Tiwari over Kanhaiya Kumar. The poll predicts a higher voting percentage and margin for Mr Tiwari.
Burari, Timarpur, Seemapuri (SC), Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur, Ghonda, Babarpur, Gokalpur (SC), Mustafabad, and Karawal Nagar are among the ten segments that make up the North East Delhi constituency.
Remarkably, out of the ten, only three (Rohtas Nagar, Ghonda, and Karawal Nagar) are controlled by the BJP; the other seven are held by AAP MLAs.
North East Delhi previous Lok Sabha results
The sole incumbent member of parliament kept by the saffron party in the 2019 and 2014 Lok Sabha Polls has been Tiwari, a well-known actor and singer from Bhojpur. In both 2014 and 2019, he emerged victorious from the Northeast Delhi seat, which boasts the highest percentage of Muslim votes in Delhi (20.7%). His vote share increased from 45% in 2014 to 54% in 2019.
In the current Lok Sabha elections, Tiwari and Kumar, the former president of the JNU Students' Union, are counting on the substantial population of Poorvanchal. In the meanwhile, Kanhaiya Kumar's election campaign has been somewhat contentious due to the AAP, and their supporters not supporting him and being slapped and assaulted with ink while he was campaigning in North East Delhi. But he said that the incident was orchestrated by BJP supporters.
The history of North East Delhi seat
Despite being relatively new, the North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat has swiftly emerged as a key figure in Delhi's political scene. It was established in 2008 when parliamentary seats were drawn up using the Delimitation Commission of India's suggestions.
In the first election, held in 2009, the Congress party's Jai Prakash Aggarwal became victorious.
There are many different types of groups living in North East Delhi, including a sizable immigrant population from various regions of India.
Additionally, this region served as the epicentre of the 2020 Delhi riots, which resulted in 53 fatalities and 583 injuries.