The Gurgaon Lok Sabha Constituency, A Seat Of Extremes - Ground Report

For most who are familiar, Gurugram evokes an image of the modern urban India, having emerged as a centre for advanced corporate and IT parks, glittering high-rise residential and commercial complexes, serving as a hub for tech, banking, finance industries, and offering enticing careers and lifestyles for a global skilled workforce.

Also called the Millenium city, it has become a global commerce centre and a key economic growth engine for Haryana. Constantly expanding since the 1990s, the city alone contributes to over 40 per cent of Haryana's GST collections. As of April 2024, Haryana's GST collections grew by 21 per cent year-on-year, surpassing the national average of 12.4 per cent.

This growth in Gurugram also facilitated social and economic progress in its surrounding regions, spread across three districts, which together constitute the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency.

With close to 25 lakh voters, the highest in the state, the Gurgaon constituency extends beyond just the city itself and includes the regions and populations of Manesar, Rewari, Badhshapur, and Mewat.

The constituency has nine legislative assemblies across three districts — Gurugram, Sohna, Badshahpur, and Pataudi in Gurugram district; Bawal and Rewari in Rewari district; and Nuh, Firozepur Jhirka, and Punahana in Nuh district.

The seat is witnessing a contest between Rao Inderjit Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Raj Babbar from Congress, and singer Rahul Yadav (Fazilpuria) making his debut with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

Rao Inderjit Singh, the incumbent Member of Parliament, has won Gurgaon on a BJP ticket twice (2019, 2014) and once on that of the Congress (2009). In 2004, as a Congress member, he represented the Mahendragarh constituency, predecessor to the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat.

As Gurgaon votes on 25 May, Swarajya was on ground to explore the voter sentiments and how those sentiments are tied, directly or indirectly, to infrastructure, economic growth, industrial development, civic issues, defence policies, law and order, communal tensions and more.

While Connectivity Improves, Longstanding Civic Issues Still A Concern

The economic centre, which has attracted more and more investments over the years, is, however, still marred by civic issues, and traffic congestions, as per the residents.

Anshul Syal, a corporate lawyer, working at Cyberhub, and a lifelong resident of Gurgaon, tells Swarajya, “I've witnessed continuous growth on both sides of old Gurgaon, with the addition of expressways, underpasses, and flyovers. However, the road network still struggles to meet the city's traffic demands. I believe it is only going to change with the new metro approved recently, as it was for Delhi.

"The new network will also connect Gurgaon pockets, just as the road network does currently, taking off the burden. Though it’s still in early stages, it's a step towards offering alternatives by the government.”, he adds.

The city has gained notoriety for its persistent civic issues. Behind its glittering facade, also stand fundamental problems with water supply, waste management, and flooding. The last of these is an almost annual problem in the monsoons, often bringing the city to a halt.

The residents know that there is no easy way to counter this. But as this place remains continually under development, they remain hopeful that these challenges will eventually be addressed.

"This is the prevailing sentiment among the people now, given the lack of long-term solutions to these issues over the years," says Arunabh Sethi, a resident of Palam Vihar, another central location in the city.

"Yet, despite these challenges, Gurugram has cultivated a unique culture that sets it apart. People from all over India aspire to be part of it, even after knowing these issues.”

He adds, “If you are looking at government efforts, the recently opened Dwarka expressway has really changed connectivity for the emerging areas in Gurgaon. It has made a very convenient connection to Delhi, and also to other regions in Haryana. As a whole, NHAI and the centre has planned an overall circuit to integrate all new areas as Gurgaon grows.”

The country's first eight-lane elevated expressway, and the most recent government accomplishment for this region, the Dwarka Expressway, with its opening has given direct links to Delhi, the IGI airport, the developing region of New Gurugram, the industrial area of Manesar, and further into Haryana through a network of elevated roads, tunnels, and underpasses.

Expansion For Industrial Growth

At the Haryana end of the expressway, where it connects to the cloverleaf interchange, the Kherki Daula village is of the firsts to see transformation, where people appreciate the rapid actions of the centre government.

“The expressway brought in new investments here. Even during the construction phase, DLF and other developers acquired land from villagers and began developing residential and commercial centres,", says Karan Yadav, a young villager whose land was also acquired for the project.

"As you drive along the expressway, you can see numerous new developments. All of these were waiting for this road to begin, and now even more work has started. It connects directly to industrial belt of Manesar, Dharuhera and further."

Even today, there is regular demand by builders to acquire the village land around the expressway. With all the infrastructure push of the government, the villagers have also listed out several issues that have emerged for them and want the government to address them.   

“For many of us, local movement has been disrupted. Previously, there was a service lane for expressway access, but it's currently closed.” says Virender Singh, a member of the transport union in the village.  

“We also demand the removal of the Kherki Daula toll plaza. This issue is there since 2014, yet the toll remains. With the expressway, more vehicles pass now, enveloping our village areas in dust," he adds.  

When asked how they expect these issues to be catered to in the elections, the villagers add, “Jinhone banaaya hai, samaadhan bhi vo hi denge. Vote here will go in favour of Rao sahab and BJP. They have done this much, we will urge to consider these problems now, when he comes here.”

Yadav adds, “Suvidha di hai, duvidhaaye vo hi hataayenge. Congress ya JJP se nahi hona yeh sab.”

The people in Kherki Daula now expect more public transport and direct connectivity for youth attending colleges or working in Gurugram city, Manesar, and Delhi.

Many of their trucks service the Manesar and Dharuhera industrial belt, where the government is actively promoting further investment.

While heading to Rewari, passing through Manesar and Dharuhera industrial belt, display boards of new warehousing and logistics parks dot the highway.

This area, already home to major industrial players such as Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp, is now seeing surge in warehousing and logistics companies, such as Indospace, which plans Rs 1,000 crore investments to setup its warehousing capacity.  

“Previously, all traffic was concentrated on the Delhi Gurugram expressway. But people traveling to Jaipur now take the Delhi-Mumbai expressway from Sohna, and the traffic towards the Manesar industrial regions is divided between the two expressways.”, adds Sunil Kumar, employee at an automobile plant in IMT (Industrial Model Township) Manesar.

He adds, “Till now Gurgaon was getting overloaded. Now again Manesar and Dharuhera have started growing. My friends tell me all this, as they ask me to find out new opportunities here.”

In Rewari, Education and Defence Policies Takes Centrestage

The Rewari Assembly constituency falls towards the south-west of Gurugram city, after Badshapur and Pataudi. The road leading to the region is lined with schools on both sides, which serve both rural and urban populations.

Locals, who rely on education and jobs in both government and private sectors, are concerned about the stalled development of higher education institutions in the region.

A government official, in Fideri gram panchayat tells Swarajya, “Rewari is an educational hub with youth focused on securing jobs. In our villages in Rewari and Kosli, nearly every family has a member serving in the defence forces for the nation.”

“What we want is development of institutes. I want to tell you, the work for AIIMS Rewari has to begin, but previous projects like the Defence university, medical college, and Sainik school have remained stuck for years. So, we don’t know what will happen with AIIMS, even though our Prime minister visited to lay its foundation stone.”, he adds.

Rewari rural has 110 villages, where the electoral competition is fierce between the two parties.

For Congress, local MLA Chiranjeev Rao and Congress leader Captain Ajay Yadav hold significant sway among the people. Meanwhile, BJP MP Inderjit Rao, who resides in Rewari, garners support as the local candidate for the elections.

“We do not know where Congress candidate Raj Babbar will be, if he wins. There's also confusion about his relationship with Captain Ajay Yadav. Rao Sahab has his residence here. Many times people go to him directly for help. Someone from his team is always there”, says, Rakesh Rao, an octogenarian, who runs a tea shop and a Dhaba, in the vicinity of the schools.

Further, in Rewari town, support leans towards the current BJP MP, Rao Inderjit. However, the government is facing backlash due to the Agniveer scheme among the residents.

At a training institute, speaking anonymously, people add, “Since the scheme, we have seen huge decline in the number of students. We had over one lakh entries, but now it has reduced to only sixty thousand. The time of 4 years has become a major concern for youth. Rewari has a culture developed around military service. Here, family growth, marriage and more also rely on the bharti (selection) in villages.”

“BJP ka agar nuksaan hain to vo sirf iss policy se hai” (If BJP incurs any loss here, it's solely due to this policy), adds an ex-service man, expressing concern as he was granted a quota for his son to join the army but is now confused.

“They should devise a solution, after four years of service. Joining the army is long ingrained in our culture. People cannot adjust to such a change in just one year. It will take time for them to gain confidence in this”, he added.

However, many also hold contrary views. "This opens up more opportunities for youngsters to join the army. After four years, new individuals will be recruited, providing more people with a chance,", says Arun Bhardwaj, who himself attempted to join services, and now operates a telecom service shop in the main market.

He adds, “In addition to the training, the policy also includes a sum of money paid at the end of service, which will likely be more than what they would earn here. People here need to sit and think more on its benefits.”

People Of Nuh Demand Attention

From Rewari, the road heading towards Nuh (Mewat district) runs along the Rajasthan-Haryana border, passing through the industrial belt in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. However, upon crossing this stretch of Rajasthan and re-entering Haryana, the landscape and essence of the state becomes starkly different.

The roads, under the Nuh district, are flanked by barren lands littered with garbage, derelict homes and shops, and scrap dealers, settled in small villages. This scene continues for another 20 kilometres until reaching Nuh city, the district headquarters, whose entry is greeted by vast lands filled with garbage and wastewater.

On speaking with the locals, it turns out that this was area which faced communal riots in July 2023. ‘Yahi pe hua tha sab. Sab jo aas pass dekh rahe ho, sab jal raha tha aag mein” (Everything happened right here. Everything you see around was in flames), one local adds.

When asked how this area has remained in such a condition despite being just 35 kilometres from the limits of Gurgaon city, a young student, tells Swarajya, “Even now, from where you entered, you saw a field burning with garbage. Further, you'll see broken homes, people sitting on the streets. All the roads in bad shape. This is Nuh's development.”

In 2018, a NITI Aayog report identified the district as the most backward district of India. 101 districts were assessed on 49 development indicators including health, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, skill development, and basic infrastructure. Nuh scored 26 percent — the lowest across the country.

“We are also residents of Gurgaon, which is the largest parliamentary seat, but we have never seen any such development here. Just a few kilometres away are the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and the Sohna manufacturing industrial belt. We hope that the benefits of these developments also reach this region,”, Kamaal Khan, a resident of the city, tells Swarajya.

Razzuddin, an ex-sarpanch of a neighbouring village, adds, "There are no jobs here; we have to go to Bhiwadi or other districts of Haryana to find work. We are behind, maybe because the MLA here is not in power. They belong to a different party, so all work comes to a halt here. BJP candidates have won here several times, and this time too, people plan to vote for the powerful party in the Vidhan Sabha elections".

Regardless of the local government in power, people in Nuh seek attention, beyond communal issues, as they see their region lagging behind in all aspects, be it infrastructure, education or healthcare.