Vinod Singh Rawat, 50, a daily wage worker, standing near a night shelter in Kashmere Gate.
| Photo Credit: ALISHA DUTTA
As campaigning for the Delhi Assembly election heats up with less than 10 days to go, parties are making big promises, including welfare schemes for the marginalised and permanent housing for those living in jhuggis. However, for many voters living in night shelters across the Capital, these promises ring hollow, and they’re unsure about what the future holds.
Sitting outside a tin shed room at a night shelter near Bangla Sahib, 35-year-old Vineeta Devi says she was born and raised on the footpaths of Connaught Place and hasn’t been able to break the cycle of poverty.
For years, Ms. Vineeta and her family of four slept on the footpath, until the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to move to a night shelter, where they’ve been living for five years. She says she obtained her voter ID card using her father’s previous employer’s address. “I have dreamt of owning a home for the longest time, but despite promises by different parties, we still do not have a permanent address,” she says.
Her daily income of ₹150-₹200 from selling balloons barely sustains her family’s hand-to-mouth existence. Her three teenage children attend a Delhi government school, while her husband faces difficulties finding a permanent job due to lack of education and skills. This leaves the family entirely dependent on her earnings, with no savings to fall back on.
“On some days I make ₹200, while on others I make nothing. Whatever I earn goes into buying groceries since none of my children like the watery food served here. Where will I get money to pay rent?” she says. Despite her frustration with empty promises from politicians, Ms. Devi says she still makes an effort to cast her vote.
‘Loss of faith’
However, Vinod Singh Rawat, 50, who lives in a night shelter near Kashmere Gate, says he has lost faith in the electoral system after spending over two decades on the streets of Delhi. Despite holding a voter ID card, Mr. Rawat does not exercise his franchise. “I stopped voting after I figured out that nobody is going to change my living conditions,” he says.
A daily wage worker, he highlights the dwindling demand for labourers in the Capital. “Most days I go to the labour chowk in the morning and return with no earnings. In one’s struggle to secure the next meal, how can one care about which party comes to power?” He says on such days, the three meals and single bed provided by the government night shelter is a “godsend”.
Meena Devi, 32, shares a similar sense of disillusionment with the electoral system. After living on the footpath near Kali Mandir and selling parathas to make ends meet, she moved into a night shelter near Defence Colony six years ago. Ms. Meena says she’ll step out to vote only if a candidate guarantees her a permanent home. “My children have been kidnapped twice before I moved into the night shelter. I will vote for whoever promises to build me a pucca house,” she says.
Published – January 30, 2025 01:27 am IST