Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is now contesting the assembly elections from the Jangpura seat. The party has given the ticket to Awadh Ojha from Patparganj in his place.
After the ticket was announced, Awadh Ojha met workers in his election office and made an election campaign strategy.
A little away from the office, Mukesh Dubey is waiting for passengers with his e-rickshaw.
Mukesh, who belongs to Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, has been living in Mandavali for the last 20 years and is a voter of the Patparganj assembly constituency.
Do you know that Manish Sisodia has left the Patparganj assembly constituency and moved to Jangpura?
On this, Mukesh says, “I came to know about it in the morning when some people were talking about it among themselves. Sisodia ji was fine but the leaders around him were not right. Travel in buses is free, so the rickshaw business has also been affected by this.” Do you know the Aam Aadmi Party’s new candidate Avadh Ojha here? Mukesh says that he does not know Avadh Ojha and that people here will vote for the party and not the face.
Avadh Ojha also seems to agree with Mukesh. Avadh Ojha says, “That is correct. As a candidate, my communication with the public has not started yet. But I hope that all such things will start in a day or two.”
Why did Manish Sisodia change his seat?
In 2013, when the Aam Aadmi Party contested the Delhi elections for the first time, Manish Sisodia chose the Patparganj seat. Manish Sisodia was facing the challenge of BJP’s Nakul Bhardwaj and Congress’ Anil Kumar. In the very first election, Sisodia left both of them behind and got more than 50 thousand votes. The difference between victory and defeat between BJP’s Nakul Bhardwaj and Manish Sisodia was 11,476 votes.
In 2015, this difference had increased to more than 28 thousand. Manish Sisodia got 75,477 votes and Vinod Kumar Binny, who joined the BJP from AAP, got 46,716 votes.
The 2020 election proved to be a cause of concern for Manish Sisodia. At that time, on the one hand, the Aam Aadmi Party was returning to power with a clear majority, but on the other hand, Manish Sisodia was lagging behind BJP’s Ravinder Singh Negi. In a close contest, Manish Sisodia did win by a margin of 3,207 votes, but Ravinder Singh Negi drew everyone’s attention with this performance.
Senior journalist and political analyst Ashutosh says, “Remember the last time’s results in Patparganj. Till noon on the day of counting, it was not clear in the party camp that Manish Sisodia would win. Later he won but the margin was very low.” “Firstly, he was not active in the area due to low margin and being in jail for a long time. So it is possible that he had to change his seat due to these reasons.”
Senior journalist Pramod Joshi believes that the party is doing this to avoid the anti-incumbency wave.
Pramod Joshi says, “The party has cut the tickets of more than half of the people, about 18, in both the lists. Manish Sisodia is a senior leader, so his ticket cannot be cut, that is why the seat was changed. Along with him, Rakhi Birlan’s seat has also been changed. Aam Aadmi Party wants to avoid the anti-incumbency factor. Last time if Congress and NOTA had gone in favor of Ravinder Negi, he would have won. You also know this.”
BJP is constantly raising questions on Sisodia changing his seat.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya wrote on X, “Next time Manish Sisodia talks about education and health in Delhi or tries to avoid answering on Arvind Kejriwal’s Sheeshmahal, he should be asked that if he has done so much good work, then why did he go to jail and why did he have to leave Patparganj and go to Jangpura?”
BJP leader Ravinder Singh Negi is calling Manish Sisodia a fugitive.
Meanwhile, Manish Sisodia says that it does not matter whether it is Patparganj or Jangpura.
In a conversation with news agency PTI, Manish Sisodia says, “Patparganj is in Delhi and Jangpura is also in Delhi. So it does not matter where I contest the election. When I was the Deputy CM, I worked wholeheartedly for Jangpura.”
BJP last won the seat in 1993. In such a situation, if Ravinder Singh Negi becomes a candidate, is this election an opportunity for him to get this seat back?
Pramod Joshi says, “Voters from Uttarakhand, Purvanchal, and Bihar play a decisive role in this seat. Ojha has a claim on voters from Purvanchal and Bihar, but if these voters go in favor of Ravinder Singh Negi, it will not be difficult for him.”
“Another factor is that Ojha is a new face for the voters of the area, while Ravinder Singh Negi is a councilor from Vinod Nagar. People here are well acquainted with him.”
AAP has promoted Delhi’s education model and Sisodia as Education Minister among the people. Now the party has fielded Awadh Ojha from the field of education, but his own identity among voters other than the party is a big challenge.
Ojha says, “My family lives in Vinod Nagar, so I had asked for this seat from them. If the BJP wants, they can talk to us on education. A victory is a victory whether it is 3200 votes or one vote. It is possible that Manish Sisodia could have got more than forty thousand votes.”
What are the people of Patparganj saying?
Krishna Devi lives in West Vinod Nagar and runs a cosmetic shop at home.
On being asked about Manish Sisodia, Krishna says, “Last time Sisodia ji won after losing. He won from Shashi Garden, but he lost from here. So it seems that he has changed the seat.”
Krishna was talking when her husband also came. He said, “It has been many years since he has been here, so people are also wanting a change. Now since he has gone to jail etc., he is not able to give time to the area.”
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Vishwas Nagar Assembly seat is right next to Patparganj. AAP has fielded Deepak Singhal from here. His posters are put up at many places but there is no such atmosphere in Patparganj.
75-year-old Shahabuddin, who lives in Purvi School Block, Mandavali, says that the face does not make much difference but AAP’s case is a little down.
Shahabuddin says, “Sisodia was friendly and used to get the work done which was in his control. But the liquor scam has affected his image. If there was an alliance with Congress, the seat could have been won easily but now there is a competition with BJP.
There is a hustle and bustle in Shriram Chowk Mandi and people are coming to buy vegetables. Rajeshwari also has a shop in this market.
Rajeshwari says about Sisodia, “Manish Sisodia was working for the people. But he had to go to jail and then he could not give time to the people here. When he is not among the public, how will he be able to ask for votes? The public will ask that you did not come at all, so perhaps the seat was changed.”
Why did you choose Jangpura?
Manish Sisodia got the ticket from the Jangpura seat on 9 December, but Sisodia was roaming in the Jangpura area since two weeks ago.
On 26 November, Manish Sisodia reached the slums in Sundar Nursery. A few days ago, the slums were demolished here.
Sisodia had said that BJP people are doing slum tourism and we have come here to expose BJP.
Sisodia was accompanied by Delhi government minister Saurabh Bhardwaj and Jangpura MLA Praveen Kumar.
Aam Aadmi Party has been winning this seat continuously since 2013 and the difference of victory and defeat also appears to be in favor of AAP. This factor is also being considered important behind Sisodia’s candidature.
Senior journalist Ashutosh says, “BJP has never won the election on the Jangpura seat. Before 2013, Congress used to win the elections and after 2013, Aam Aadmi Party used to win. Currently, Congress does not have a single seat in Delhi and AAP is in direct competition with BJP. In such a situation, which seat can be safer for Manish Sisodia than Jangpura?”
Sikh and Punjabi voters play a decisive role in the Jangpura seat. Keeping this in mind, AAP gave a ticket to Maninder Singh Dhir in 2013 and he became the Speaker of Delhi Assembly after winning. However, the margin of victory was only 1744 votes then.
In 2015, Dhir left AAP and joined the BJP, and then Praveen Kumar got a chance from the Jangpura seat.
Dhir got 37% vote share in 2013, while Praveen took the vote share to 48% in 2015 and 50% in 2020.
Nehru Nagar, Sunlight Colony, Nizamuddin Basti, and Daryaganj are also in this assembly seat, where a large population of Muslims and Dalits live. Aam Aadmi Party is also eyeing this vote bank.
Current MLA of Jangpura Praveen Kumar has said that he is standing shoulder to shoulder with Manish ji. We are standing shoulder to shoulder with Congress.
Praveen Kumar wrote on X, “Manish Sisodia ji, the father of education revolution in Delhi, was kept in jail for 17 months by BJP’s puppet ED-CBI by implicating him in fake cases. This was not only injustice but a conspiracy to suppress the voice of the people.”
“I requested Manish ji that the aware people of Jangpura will answer this injustice. We all will together make him contest the elections and make him victorious with a huge number of votes.”
Congress and BJP have not yet declared their candidates in Jangpura. After the candidates are declared, the remaining equations related to the seat will also become clear.
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