Minorities in 'strategic' tilt

A woman outside a polling booth in Delhi on Saturday.
Picture by Yasir Iqbal

IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI AND ANANYA SENGUPTA, TT, New Delhi, Feb. 7: United against the BJP, most Muslims today appeared to have voted the Aam Aadmi Party and ensured their ballots did not get split between the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal's party as in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Enquiries with a cross section of Muslim voters, especially in eight of 70 seats where minorities constitute 35-45 per cent of the population, indicated a trend of "strategic" voting for the AAP.

A section of the elderly people voted Congress, as they have been traditionally doing. But youngsters, mostly between 18 and 25 years, appear to have tilted to the AAP for fear that voting the Congress would benefit the BJP.

"We're wiser this time. We ensured that BJP does not reap the benefit of the division of our votes," said Akramul Hasan, a 34-year-old software engineer from Chandni Chowk near the Jama Masjid area that has a large minority population.

According to the 2011 census, Delhi has nearly 12 per cent Muslim voters. Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Okhla, Seelampur and Mustafabad are some seats where the community can swing results.

Sixty-year-old Mohammed Subhan from Matia Mahal voted the Congress but his wife and two college-going sons went for the AAP.

"I have always voted for the Congress but the AAP brand of politics has many takers among the community's youths who want politics of development," he said.

The main issues for this section are price rise, unemployment, lack of health care and basic civic amenities, he said.

"Our Prime Minister loves to make tall promises just like he loves to wear a Rs 10 lakh suit. We are poor people and want basic amenities. How long will one listen to such promises on an empty stomach?" asked Dilshad Khan, the owner of a chicken shop opposite Jama Masjid.

In the congested Matia Mahal area near Jama Masjid, many Congress supporters and functionaries manning the party's voter camps conceded that Muslims had tilted to the AAP. The Congress's Shoaib Iqbal is a five-time MLA from the area.

"There is a surge of support for AAP's Aseem Ahmed Khan and Shoaibbhai's dream run might end this time like the BJP's dream run," said one of them.

"My family has supported Congress for generations but I voted for the BJP in the last Assembly elections. This time, I voted for the AAP," said 65-year-old Shahim Bano Nizami from Nizamuddin Basti, a part of Jangpura seat in southeast Delhi.

Nizami's 20-year-old daughter Simmi said: "The young have gone with the AAP, at least in this area. Like my mother, I too feel that Kejriwal should be given another chance to try his hand at bringing down the prices of basic commodities."