Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal feels that by fielding 11 candidates belonging to Purvanchal for the Assembly polls, his Aam Aadmi Party has tried to give a proportionate political representation to the people of the region.
“AAP gives 11 tickets to Purvanchalis, 3 by BJP. Purvachalis feel they been given respect and equal participation for the first time by any party,” he tweeted on Friday.
Over the years, a large number of people from Purvanchal, a region spread over Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have settled in the Capital. With the numbers, the vote share of the people from the region among the Delhi electorate has also gone up significantly.
Among the Purvanchali candidates the AAP has fielded are Rituraj (Kirari), Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar) and Kapil Mishra (Karawal Nagar).
Unlike last time when the candidate selection process by the AAP involved an extensive short listing exercise, this time the party has taken caste equations into consideration in several constituencies.
Many Purvanchalis among their population of nearly 40 lakh in the city are labourers, vendors and contract workers. The AAP in its dialogues has addressed their problems as well.
Talking about the failure of other parties in addressing the issues affecting Purvanchalis, party leader Manish Sisodia said corruption at every stage from getting a voter identity card to putting up a stall is a key issue.
Among the other major parties, Congress’ Mahabal Mishra, a former MP from West Delhi who is now contesting from Dwarka, was for years considered the biggest leader coming from the region. To tap the Purvanchali votes, the BJP too had successfully fielded Bhojpuri singer Manoj Tiwari from North-East Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections. The party is also trying to cash in on the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents Varanasi constituency from Eastern U.P.
Purvanchalis feel they have been given equal participation for the first time by any party: Kejriwal
