Delhi Assembly Elections 2020: All you need to know about Najafgarh Vidhan Sabha constituency

Najafgarh constituency: The seat will go for polls on February 8. Sitting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kailash Gahlot, who had won the seat for the party in the 2015 Delhi state assembly elections, will be contesting once again from the Najafgarh assembly seat this year. Notably, Gahlot is also a cabinet minister of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, specifically, the Transport & Environment minister of Delhi.

Prior to 2015, Najafgarh had had a peculiar history of voting, in that the electorate in this constituency kept voting to power several independent candidates over the years. Suraj Parshad Paliwal, an independent candidate, had won the Najafgarh seat in the 1993 Delhi state assembly elections. In the 1998 assembly polls, Congress' Kanwal Singh Yadav won the seat. Again in the 2003 Delhi state assembly polls, Najafgarh returned to an independent candidate, Ranbir Singh Kharb. The same occurred in the 2008 Delhi assembly polls, when Bharat Singh, an independent candidate, won the Najafgarh seat.

The constituency of Najafgarh lies close to the hinterlands of Haryana and is thus comprised of a similar demographic as its neighbouring state. The constituency has a population largely of farmers and traders. Community-wise, Najafgarh is dominated by the Jats. It is, therefore, one of the constituencies which have not been consistent with its votes and has frequented between parties and independent candidates in successive assembly polls.

In the 2013 Delhi state assembly elections, BJP's Ajeet Singh Kharkhari with 54,358 votes had defeated INLD's Bharat Singh (with 44,590 votes) and AAP's Mukesh Kumar Dagar (with 22,798votes). Congress' Bijander Dutt had only received 10,633 votes that year.

However, in the 2015 Delhi state assembly elections, AAP's Kailash Gahlot with 55,598 votes emerged victorious, defeating INLD's Bharat Singh (with 54,043 votes) and BJP's Ajeet Singh Kharkhari (with 39,462 votes) by a narrow margin. Congress' Jai Kishan Sharma had only received 8,180 votes that year.

This year, incumbent minister Kailash Gahlot, represented the AAP, is contesting the Najafgarh assembly constituency once again. Against Gahlot, the BJP has pitched its faith once again on former legislator Ajit Kharkhari, who had won the seat for the party in 2013. A close contest between the AAP and the BJP is expected.

The constituency of Najafgarh is a part of the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency and lies in the South West Delhi district. It is the hometown of cricketer Virender Sehwag and stretches over several urban and rural areas like Vinobha Enclave, Sainik Enclave, Jai Vihar, Jharoda Kalan, Issa Pur, and Kazipur Village. The Najafgarh constituency is expected to be an important seat for the AAP since an incumbent minister is contesting the elections from this seat. However, it is to be noted that the electorate has never elected an MLA twice

The Najafgarh assembly constituency has 2,32,919 prospective voters, out of which 1,25,069 are male, 1,07,843 are female, and 7 are transgenders.

In the Delhi Assembly Elections 2020, AAP will be contesting from all 70 seats for the assembly polls while BJP will be contesting on 67 seats, with its ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) contesting on the remaining three seats.

On the other hand, Congress will fight on 66 seats and its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will fight on the remaining 4 seats.

Polling will be held at 13,750 polling stations. According to the poll body chief, total electors in the final electoral roll of the NCT of Delhi as on January 6, 2020, are 1,46,92,136.

The polls for all the seats will be held on February 8, 2020, and the results will be declared on February 11, 2020.

It is to be noted that in 2015, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had a landmark victory after it secured 67 of the total 70 seats in the state legislature. The party is now eyeing a second consecutive term banking on freebies that it provided to Delhiites including free water, free electricity up to 200 units, free ride for women in DTC and cluster buses, among other measures.