Explained: Delhi has 2 lakh new teen voters; here’s where they are being added

Here is a look at the top five constituencies, which have added the most number of voters between the ages of 18-19 years to their electoral rolls. How they voted in the previous Assembly polls, the number of voters and their polling percentages. They are: Matiala (7,184), Vikaspuri (6,153), Burari (5,616), Bawana (4,615) and Badarpur (4,607).

Matiala

Matiala lies in the district of South West Delhi, which has an area of 420 sq kilometers and has a population of 22.92 lakh. This includes 12,46,046 males and 10,46,912 females as per the Census 2011 data. The district consists 77 villages and is bound by Haryana’s Gurugram, Bahadurgarh and Jhajjar and the West, Central, New Delhi and South Delhi District of the National Capital Territory.

The district is further divided into three sub-divisions of Kapashera, Najafgarh and Dwarka. According to the South West Delhi website, while Kapashera is predominantly rural, Dwarka and Najafgarh are a mix of both urban and rural. Matiala falls under the sub-division of Dwarka and is one of the seven constituencies of the district of South West Delhi. It is also the largest assembly constituency in Delhi.

The area of the constituency is predominated by Jats and Ahirs. Overall, the district of South West Delhi has a population growth rate of about 30.62 per cent, a literacy rate of 88.28 percent, a population density of 5,445 and comprises roughly 4.94 lakh households as per Census 2011.

Gulab Singh Yadav of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the current MLA from the constituency. In the 2015 Assembly Elections, 12 candidates contested from the constituency, just one of them a woman. About 67.02 per cent of the 2.32 lakh voters voted at the 318 polling stations. Yadav received 1.27 lakh votes, more than 50 per cent of the vote-share, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Rajesh Gahlot received roughly 80,600 votes leaving a margin of about 20.3 per cent between the two candidates. On Tuesday, AAP fielded Yadav again.

In 2019, Matiala added 2,732 voters in the age group of 18-19 years to their voter’s list. This year the number has shot up to 7,184. In contrast, it added 4,963 voters in the age group of more than 80 years in 2020 — the number was 4,257 last year.

Vikaspuri

The Vikaspuri constituency also lies in the district of South West Delhi. It added 6,153 voters between the ages of 18-10 years this year against 2,667 last time.

In the 2015 Assembly polls, nine candidates contested the elections, including three women. There were over 2.11 lakh voters from this constituency in 2015, including 893 postal voters. The polling percentage was at 65.15 per cent. Mahinder Yadav of AAP won in 2015 with a margin of 36.8 per cent of the votes. He received 1.32 lakh votes in total. Sanjay Singh of the BJP was the runner-up and received 54,700 votes. Congress’ Nand Kishore was third and received over 19,500 votes. For the upcoming polls, AAP has fielded Yadav again.

In the 80-plus category, Vikaspuri added 471 more voters in 2020 than 2019.

Burari

Burari constituency lies in the predominantly rural district of North East Delhi. The district consists 27 villages and is spread across an area of 62 sq. kilometers. It has a population of 17.63 lakh, out of which 9.53 lakh are male and 8.10 lakh are females. The literacy rate of the district is 77.85 per cent. Burari is one of the eight assembly constituencies of the district whose sitting MLA is from AAP. Sanjeev Jha garnered roughly 35 per cent of the votes in 2015. For the upcoming elections, AAP has fielded Jha again.

A total of 18 candidates contested from the constituency in 2015 with a polling percentage of 67.78. The total number of voters was at 1.95 lakh including 1205 postal voters. In 2019, Burari added 5,616 voters between the ages of 18-19 years. This year the number is lower at 2,271 voters. For the 80+ years age group. Burari added 538 more voters in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Bawana

Bawana lies in the North-West district of Delhi, which is spread across an area of 443 sq. kilometers and has a population of 36.56 lakh. Out of this 2.13 lakh is the rural population and the remaining is urban. In this district, the population density is 8,254 per sq. km and the population growth rate is 27.8 per cent as per Census 2011.

In the 2015 Assembly polls, six candidates contested the elections from the constituency, all of which were men. The total number of voters was at 1.87 lakh and the polling percentage was at 61.83 per cent. AAP’s Ved Prakash won with a margin of about 50,000 votes. For the upcoming elections, AAP has fielded Jai Bhagwan Upkar.

While Bawana added 4,615 voters in 2020 in the age group of 18-19 years, over double the 2014 voters added last year. For the 80 + years category, Bawana added 391 more voters in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Badarpur

Badarpur lies in the South Delhi district, which is spread across an area of 247 sq. km. The district has a population of about 27.13 lakh, a population density of about 11,000 per sq. km and a population growth rate of 20.5 per cent. It has a literacy rate of 92.2 per cent among males and about 80.99 among females as per Census 2011. This district is predominantly urban.

In the 2015 Assembly elections, eight candidates contested from Badarpur. The total number of voters was at 1.7 lakh and the elections recorded a polling percentage of 65.33. In 2015, AAP’s Narayan Dutt Sharma won the elections with a margin of roughly 47,000 votes. For the upcoming elections, AAP has fielded Ram Singh Netaji.

Badarpur added 4,607 voters in the age group of 18-19 years to their voter’s list in the year 2020, which is more than three times the 1414 voters added in 2019. For the 80 + years age group, Badarpur added 300 more voters in 2020 than 2019.