Delhi Assembly Election 2020, Seemapuri profile | The Seemapuri Assembly constituency, nestled at the northeastern corner of Delhi, is considered among the neglected parts of NCR. It will go to poll on 8 February along with 69 other constituencies in the single-phase Delhi Assembly elections. Counting of votes will be conducted on 11 February. The area has been in the news over nti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party is harping up the issue to nationalise the political discourse ahead of polls. However, the constituency is plagued with several local issues, and it is interesting to watch whether people vote on the basis of larger national issues, or stick with the candidate they think can solve local issues and improve infrastructure in the medium-to-low income group mixed use area. Seemapuri is a reserved seat for the Scheduled Caste community.
Results in the last three elections
AAP’s Rajendra Pal Gautam emerged victorious in the 2015 Assembly polls, taking the baton from the party’s Dharmender Singh, who won the polls in 2013. The AAP wrested the constituency from Congress’ Veer Singh Dhingan who was the MLA of Seemapuri since 1998.
Gautam is again in the fray from the constituency this year on an AAP ticket, while the Congress too has fielded local heavyweight and its three-time MLA Dhingan. BJP has ceded the seat to its ally Lok Janshakti Party, who has fielded Sant Lal Chawariya in this reserved seat.
Demography
Seemapuri Assembly constituency is a part of North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. A considerable part of the area’s population comprises Muslims and Scheduled Castes.
It also has many slums and houses ragpickers, who segregate and recycle waste in the area. In these parts of Seemapuri, which is an unauthorised settlement, residents struggle for basic facilities like sanitation, water and power supply. In fact, a cholera outbreak was reported in Seemapuri in 2008.
A few years ago, a pattern of drug abuse among children in the Seemapuri slums was found when a study was ordered by the Juvenile Justice Board, after as many as six cases of crimes by children addicted to drugs were reported.
Seemapuri also saw violent clashes in December last year during the ongoing protests against the amended Citizenship Act. Later, sources in the police pointed towards the alleged involvement of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the riots, in which rampant damage to public property was caused.
Following is a brief description of the Assembly constituency (as of 2015):
Constituency number: 63
Total electors: 1,72,790
Male: 1,01,705
Female: 92,327
Transgender: 18
Voter turnout in last Assembly Election: 73.29 percent
Polling stations: 147
Major parties in the fray: AAP. BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Shiromani Akali Dal
In 2015, the Assembly polls in Delhi were held on 7 February and the result was announced on 10 February. The Aam Aadmi Party secured an absolute majority in the assembly, winning 67 of the 70 seats, while the BJP secured a victory in just three constituencies. Parties like the Congress, which was in power in the capital between 1998 and 2013 for three terms, BSP, Shiromani Akali Dal and Indian National Lok Dal had secured no victories.
A total of 1.46 crore voters can exercise their franchise in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, according to the final electoral list for Delhi published on 5 January, on the day the election dates were announced. The number of service voters are 11,556. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Delhi Ranbir Singh said the final publication of voters list shows there are total 1,46,92,136 voters in Delhi, including 80.55 lakh males and 66.35 lakh females.
A new concept of absentee voters, enabling those voters to take part in polls who are not able to come to polling stations due to physical circumstances or unavoidable reasons, has been introduced. Disabled persons and senior citizens above 80 years can either vote in person or vote through postal ballot. About 90,000 officials will be deployed for the conduct of elections and the number of polling booths in 2019 were 13,750. Out of the 70 Assembly constituencies in the state, 12 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and none are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.