Will ‘Sheesh Mahal’ topple Arvind Kejriwal on his turf? New Delhi seat isn’t so sure

On the ground, there is palpable disillusionment with the AAP after 10 years of its rule, most of which was led by Kejriwal – making this the toughest election for the party in the Capital since it came into being. However, weighing that against AAP government welfare schemes, many seem willing to give Kejriwal another chance.

If power and water subsidies rank high, the anger against the AAP government is driven by the “decay” in infrastructure and “the failure to create jobs”, causing many to question its governance model. However, the untabled CAG reports whose purported findings indict the “lavish” spending on the Chief Minister’s official residence and the Delhi excise policy – giving a boost to the BJP’s corruption charges against the AAP – don’t appear to concern New Delhi residents.

The constituency has an electorate of about 1.09 lakh, which is as diverse as it comes – covering the country’s heart of power, including the residences of the President, the Prime Minister, the Union ministry, top bureaucrats and judges, the diplomatic enclave, and houses of Delhi’s rich and famous. And, right behind 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, a large slum cluster, where both Modi and Kejriwal have made prominent appearances over the years.

Incidentally, since New Delhi comes under the New Delhi Municipal Council, the Delhi government schemes don’t apply to its residents. However, the word of the AAP government’s welfare benefits is enough, apart from the fact that most of those who work here live outside the constituency.

‘Corruption charges baseless’

In the last Assembly elections in 2020, Kejriwal won from New Delhi with 61% of the votes, trouncing the BJP’s Sunil Kumar Yadav and the Congress’s Romesh Sobharwal. While the BJP swept all the seven Delhi seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in the New Delhi Assembly segment, the AAP retained the edge, getting more than 50% votes.

All across the constituency now there are BJP posters calling AAP “aapda or disaster” – a coinage by Modi – and highlighting the “Sheesh Mahal”, the name given by the party to the revamped CM residence.

However, few seem swayed by these allegations, including the Enforcement Directorate excise policy case against Kejriwal, leading to his arrest. With all AAP leaders held in the case out on bail, Shashi Kumari, a resident of Valmiki Sadan, says: “These cases are meant to tarnish the image of Kejriwal because he is working for the poor like me, providing free water, electricity, bus rides to women and medical facilities.”

A Dalit-dominated locality, Valmiki Sadan was chosen by the AAP for the launch of its symbol “jhaadu (broom)” in 2013.

Sitting with a group of women around a bonfire, Shashi, 32, voices the apprehension of many that, if the BJP comes, it will stop the AAP government’s schemes. “To keep getting benefits, it is important to have Kejriwal as CM,” she asserts.

Rajendra Kumar, a retired NDMC employee who says he used to be a BJP worker, also says “corruption is not an issue for us”. However, the 58-year-old questions the AAP government’s offer of a free bottle with every bottle of liquor, as part of its now-scrapped liquor policy – a complaint that keeps coming up among voters. “It was like putting lives in danger,” Rajendra says.

Others say that Kejriwal won’t be the first politician to live in “a grand residence”. “Leaders of all parties enjoy such luxuries in power… Plus, Kejriwal will not take the facilities (at the residence) with him if he loses. Whoever is the CM will enjoy the same,” says a voter.

‘No future for our children’

A slum with about 600 households, B R camp is located just 500 metres from the PM’s residence. But the gap between them could not be more.

Soni, 46, who cleans sewers for a living and earns about Rs 13,000 a month (one-third of Delhi’s per capita income), says: “Yahan jo bachche paida ho rahe hain woh bilkul barbaad hain (The children being born here have no future).”

He says they don’t enjoy AAP government benefits like free power bills or good schools. “The main issue here is jobs… no one here is educated,” he adds, while Kejriwal “hardly visits”.

A woman shows a power bill for January of Rs 5,100, and says they have been getting “inflated” bills since the installation of new meters. “We used just 200 units of electricity (the AAP government promises free power up to that consumption)… Until a few months ago, we got zero electricity bills but now they are more than what we earn,” says her son Kunal, 21, who says he is a graduate but jobless.

Rajesh, 59, who cleans toilets in B R Camp for a living and earns around Rs 8,000 a month, says the water they get is “not even worth bathing, let alone drinking”. Round-the-clock clean water supply is one of the AAP’s promises.

BJP workers have been going around the slum diligently taking down names and promising help with jobs. “Our team members will call you… As per your qualification, all of you will get jobs,” says one.

Around 6 km away is the JJ Colony of Kalibari area, with alleys so narrow that two people can’t cross them at the same time, rickety iron ladders lead to upper roofs, and plastic containers stock water.

In recent days, say the residents, all the contestants – Kejriwal, Dikshit and Verma – have come calling. It was here that Verma ran into a controversy for allegedly distributing money. He claimed it was his NGO helping families with high power bills.

But, even as he despairs over the state of the slum, Deep Narayan Jatav says: “How do I know if Kejriwal is corrupt, as they say? Why should we trust the BJP?”

Bringing up Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in Parliament that drew fire over its allegedly offhand mention of B R Ambedkar, Jatav, a Dalit, adds: “That remark hurt our sentiments.” The BJP appears in a better position this time “only because its workers are campaigning more aggressively”, he says.

At the same time, Jatav accuses “the AAP of failing on the employment and infrastructure front”, and complains about unclean toilets, clogged sewage lines, as well as “inflated” power bills. “I am getting bills due to the fault of the department, which have not been rectified despite repeated complaints.”

Jatav doesn’t put much stock in the AAP government’s charge that Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena – and, by extension, the Centre – has not let it function. “The AAP is trying to cover up its failure in developing infrastructure. If the LG questions any decision, how can that be an obstruction? The LG is doing what he is authorised to do.”

But others such as Rohit Kumar, 31, of B R Camp asks why is it then that there is news constantly of a skirmish between the AAP government and LG. “Many projects in Delhi need the Centre’s clearance… So it is possible that the Centre creates obstructions,” he says.

What has swung sentiments on the ground to some extent is a recent event where Modi handed over keys of flats to JJ residents in Northwest Delhi as part of an in-situ scheme, Kumar says. “A survey has been done in a part of our locality as well. Certainly people here will vote for the BJP in the hope of pucca flats… Everyone wants to move out.”

Devendra Yadav, who runs a grocery shop inside JJ Colony, is among the few who questions the “freebie” politics now common to all parties. “The public understands that these are funded by the taxes paid by us,” he says. “The BJP can give the same freebies after coming to power.”