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Muslim migration worries Congress

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI NOV. 29. Although it is in a buoyant mood with pre-election surveys predicting a Congress victory in the Delhi Assembly polls this coming Monday, the party is a little worried over the exodus of a large number of voters belonging to the minority community to their respective places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this past week to celebrate Id. This section comprises mainly of skilled and unskilled workers who constitute a large chunk of the party's vote bank here in the Capital.

Not only the Congress, even the other secular parties are a worried lot as they fear the minority vote bank would not be present in the city in full strength and that could affect the voting pattern to a great extent. The two-time Janata Dal (S) MLA from Matia Mahal, a Muslim-dominated constituency, Mr. Shoaib Iqbal, said: "It is in fact a cause for concern. Id celebrations generally stretching into a fortnight ensures these people do not reach back the Capital for casting the votes on December 1. This will badly affect the voting pattern in the minority dominated areas also."

It is well known that a majority of the semi-skilled and unskilled labourers in the Capital belong to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Just a few days before Id, they take off for their villages to be with their families to celebrate the auspicious day. They will only return after a fortnight by which time the elections would be over and a new Government would be in place. In fact, traders in large number of wholesale markets across the Capital acknowledge that even their work comes to a standstill and there is a lull in the trade during this period. And the Congress has reasons to worry as not only does it bank heavily on the minority votes in a large number of constituencies to swing the scales in its favour, but also in some segments where Muslims are the deciding factor. "For the next fortnight, things will come to a virtual standstill. The trade will only pick up by the end of next month when these people return back. The workers have already taken off after taking advance payments," remarked Mr. Jagdish Thukral of J.D. Textiles, Gandhi Nagar, who employees around 2,000 such workers.

For instance, some of the Muslim dominated constituencies where the Congress chances could get affected due to this "temporary migration" phenomenon are Seelampur, represented by sitting MLA, Mateen Ahmed, which has around 70 per cent Muslim votes. Then there is Balimaran segment represented by the Delhi Development Minister, Haroon Yusuf, and the Okhla constituency held by former Minister, Pervez Hashmi, that have around 65 per cent minority votes each. The Congress would find the going tough in constituencies like Karawal Nagar and Babarpur in East Delhi where the sitting MLAs are from the BJP. "We have fielded the right caste combination this time in these two constituencies and are hoping for a victory. However, this temporary migration might work against us,'' remarked a senior party leader. These two constituencies have around 40 to 50 per cent Mulsim votes. Then there are Paharganj, Minto Road, Bhilaswa Jehangirpuri, Tughlakabad, Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri constituencies which have a major concentration of Muslim votes. Other seats where this phenomenon could affect the outcome include Ghonda, Seemapuri, Badarpur, Trilokpuri, Yamuna Vihar, Rohtas Nagar and Gandhi Nagar.

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