'No work, no vote': Delhi's Deepak Vihar to boycott MCD polls over corruption, neglect

New Delhi: On every other wall of Deepak Vihar, situated in Southwest area of New Delhi, posters have come up saying “Chunav ka bahiskar, humara vote humara adhikaar, kaam nahi toh vote nahi” (boycotting polls, our vote our right, no work no vote).

These posters are actually part of a campaign designed by the public to register their protest against the corrupt practices in Delhi’s MCD ahead of the fresh polls to be held on December 4.

The posters are also to announce that the residents are boycotting the upcoming polls of Municipal Corporation owing to several sanitation and infrastructure issues.

The residents claim to have been facing these issues since past several years.

Some of the issues mentioned by the residents are Unpaved roads, blocked drains and dilapidated school buildings.

Deepak Vihar comes under the Sainik Enclave ward of the Vikas Puri assembly constituency.

While BJP has pitched incumbent Reeta Vinay Gaur for the polls, Congress and AAP have fielded Aarti and Nirmala Kumari, respectively from the ward. The elections to 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held on December 4.

Resident welfare association (RWA) of the area has ensured no candidate comes here for the campaign. When AAP MLA Mahendra Yadav came to campaign in the area and tried to pacify the locals on November 16, he was asked to leave the ward immediately.

“We have just seen promises in every election during the last 20 years. This time the residents have decided not to vote in the MCD polls,” said Jitendra Tyagi, RWA president.

The colony has about 15,000 residents and most of them have decided to boycott the polls, Tyagi said.

The residents said they will also boycott assembly polls if boycotting this election does not work.

Accidents are common due to poor condition of the roads, locals said.

“We are not asking for a hospital or a school… But please make roads, every other day we hear of a bike accident,” said Arun, a resident.

He took a PTI team to a road in the area which is touching Vikas Nagar. The Deepak Vihar’s side of the road was unpaved while another side is in good condition.

“Every road is full of garbage, sewers are choked. The MLA comes now and again, and promises that the work will start soon… but 20 years of wait is not enough?” asks another resident Jyoti.

“I have been facing these problems for the last 20 years… no water line, no sewer. The only thing I have seen here is leaders laying the foundation stone of development work,” she added.

Highlighting the condition of the roads, Arun said children are forced to take leave during the rainy season.

“Roads are full of water in the rainy season. So we can’t send kids to school,” he said.

Deepak Vihar RWA secretary Varun said, “We were told that the maps of two colonies are overlapping, due to which work has not been done.”

“We have been running from office to office. The MLA is from the Aam Aadmi Party, the councillor from BJP and MP also from BJP. But no one has done anything for us. This election we want to send a message to them — ‘no work no vote’,” Varun added.

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