New Delhi: Hindu Maha Sabha, which was accused of masterminding the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, has its national head office on Mandir Marg in New Delhi. This office is more than 80 years old. Next to it, there is a polling booth. Since it is Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal's assembly constituency, there was a lot of interest and curiosity among the voters and the media.
When IBNLive visited this booth around 9-30 in the morning, the polling was progressing at a very slow pace. Two elderly men were busy discussing the trends.
The man who wore a saffron shawl is the Hindu Mahasabha national working president Pandit Nand Kishore Mishra, his co-voter is Bhagat Singh, a government employee. They are very close friends. Mishra is a Prime Minister Narendra Modi supporter and Singh is a die hard AAP supporter.
They voted together and posed together for a picture. Mishra said that he had voted for Narendra Modi, though he does not like the BJP. He said, "I don't belong to the BJP. I hope Modi will do something for the Hindus. Even if Arvind Kejriwal wins, it is okay. After all he is also a Hindu."
His friend for 40 years, Bhagat Singh is vocal about his support to Kejriwal. He even declared that Kejriwal has already won. However, both agreed that there should not be different yardsticks for different class and religions. They said, "All Hindus are not BJP supporters. Is not Kejriwal a Hindu? Is not Ajay Maken a Hindu? They too are."
A 40-year-old mother of two daughters Sheila openly claimed that she voted for Kejriwal. Her daughter was busy clicking the picture of mother's inked finger to share it on her Facebook page.
Less than a kilometer from Mandir Marg polling station, at Kali Bari polling station, some local BJP polling booth managers were busy requesting the voters to elect Kiran Bedi. They said, "Not many people know who Nupur Sharma is. Because of that we are seeking the votes in the name of Kiran Bedi."
Local AAP polling agents raised objection to this. A smiling BJP worker said, "We have to show that we are mobilizing votes for us. You do your job. We are neighbours and have no personal enmity. Let's not fight."
A kilometer from Kali Bari is North Avenue, where Members of Parliament have their official flats. Most of the voters in this booth are lower class people who work at MPs houses or do some odd jobs or business. There was an overwhelming support for the AAP.
The local AAP workers had set up their counter by 7 o'clock in the morning. Wearing the trademark white AAP caps they said, "Kejriwal has already won."
On the other side of the road, the BJP and the Congress polling agents had set up their counters. The BJP counter had just one polling agent and the Congress counter was unmanned!
Two kilometers from North Avenue, at Sacred Heart Cathedral polling booth, BJP workers were busy mobilising the voters. Smita Shukla, a woman BJP worker said, "Our candidate Nupur Sharma is young like me. I have mobilised 50 votes for her. Some of them might ditch us and may go with Kejriwal. I want to prevent that. I am ensuring that all 50 will finally vote for the BJP."
Near Gole Market, a British era shopping area for the middle class people, polling agents of all three major parties - AAP, BJP and Congress were huddled together sharing tea and snacks in Delhi's morning cold.
Kailash, a Congress worker expressed the confidence that their candidate Dr. Kiran Walia would win by defeating Kejriwal. Countering him, an AAP supporter said, "If Kejriwal loses, I will shave my head and will give you my motor bike. Will you do the same, if he wins?"
On Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg polling station, the voting was very slow till 12 o'clock. This area is dominated by lower class people and many of them are dhobis.
A woman, who identified herself as Vimla said "I won't tell you who I voted for. Why should I? We are poor people. You can harass us tomorrow, if our candidate loses."
More than a dozen women who had come with her to cast the vote also endorsed her opinion.
Murugan, a waiter at Connaught Place's famous south Indian restaurant 'Saravana Bhawan' told IBNLive that he had just voted at Hanuman Mandir polling station. After some cajoling he said that he voted for Kejriwal.
His manager, Velu declared that he voted for Kiran Bedi. He said, "I don't know who the local BJP candidate is. I like Kiran Bedi. I voted for her. I hope she will be good to poor people like Amma in Tamil Nadu." He agreed with his waiter that Kejriwal is a good man, but he expressed doubts over his administrative capabilities.
Three kilometer from Connaught Place, at Nirman Bhawan polling station two house maids Rakhi and Priyanka were waiting to catch a glimpse of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is also a voter at the same booth.
When Sonia Gandhi arrived with local candidate Kiran Walia, both rushed inside to cast their vote. When they came out, with a sheepish smile they said that they had voted for the Congress and their husbands had voted for the AAP.
At Ramakrishna Ashram polling booth near Panchkuian road in the outer circle of Connaught Place, BJP workers were more in number. Wearing orange colour caps, they were busy making calls to local voters to come and vote.
At South Avenue polling booth, Manjunatha Shetty, who runs a south Indian restaurant was requesting the voters to back BJP or Congress. Interestingly, his son was rooting for Kejriwal!
The prestigious New Delhi seat, witnessed a lively, fierce contest barring one or two isolated incidents of clash or heated exchange of words between AAP and BJP.
At most places, the Congress workers were looking dull and they were not even seen at a few polling stations. What a steep decline for a party which ruled Delhi till December 2013.
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