New Delhi: The Punjabi-Sikh community that once dominated Delhi, still has a significant influence on the polling process. Out of the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, Punjabi voters have a major influence in eight seats.
The Punjabi-dominated seats in Delhi are Tilak Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Moti Nagar, Jangpura, Hari Nagar, Janakpuri, Karol Bagh and Rajouri Garden.
As the Delhi Assembly election date draws near, all political parties have intensified their campaigning. The ruling AAP and BJP have released its 'Sankalp Patra' recently and showered voters with tall promises. Today, AAP also released its manifesto in the name of Kejriwal's 15 guarantees. Overall, all parties are busy luring voters of different classes and communities in their favour.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had addressed a poll rally in Rajouri Garden constituency, which has a good number of voters from the Punjabi community, two days ago. This time, BJP has fielded Manjinder Singh Sirsa from this seat. In his address, Shah not only listed down the failures of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, but also their poor performance in Punjab.
"Madanlal Khurana was the first BJP Chief Minister in Delhi from the Punjabi community. This time Madanlal Khurana's son Harish Khurana has been given ticket by the party from Moti Nagar Assembly seat. If we talk about entire Delhi, Election Commission data states that more than 18 percent voters belong to Punjabi community and are capable of influencing the election results in their respective constituencies. Therefore, whether it is AAP or BJP or Congress, they have preferred giving ticket to a leader from the Punjabi-Sikh community on the Punjabi-dominated seats so that they can sway the voters in their favour." Raj Khurana, a political analyst said.
Punjabi voters-dominated seats and candidates fielded here:
| Assembly seat | AAP | BJP | Congress |
| 1. Tilak Nagar | Jarnail Singh | Shweta Saini | PS Bawa |
| 2. Rajouri Garden | Dhanwati Chandela | Manjinder Sirsa | Dharampal Chandela |
| 3. Moti Nagar | Shivcharan Goyal | Harish Khurana | Rajendra Namdhari |
| 4. Jangpura | Manish Sisodia | Tarvinder Singh | Farhad Suri |
| 5. Janakpuri | Praveen Kumar | Ashish Sood | Harbani Kaur |
| 6. Hari Nagar | Surendra Setia | Shyam Sharma | Prem Sharma |
| 7. Krishna Nagar | Vikas Bagga | Anil Goyal | Gurucharan Singh |
| 8. Karol Bagh | Vishesh Ravi | Dushyant Gautam | Rahul Dhanak |
Before the AAP came to power in Delhi, Punjabi voters used to vote for Akali Dal. These voters had also voted in favour of the Congress. Arvinder Singh Lovely was once a heavyweight Congress leader in the Sheila Dixit government and was also included in her cabinet.
However, currently he is contesting elections on a BJP ticket. In all the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections held between 2015 and 2024, most of the Punjabi voters have voted for the AAP, resulting which, the party has won all seats with significant number of Punjabi voters.
Thus, this is the reason why Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is campaigning vigorously for the upcoming Delhi polls.
Read More
