By IANS,
New Delhi : At a time when every single vote counts, a family of 99 registered electors could well be a votebank of sorts for any candidate in any constituency in Saturday’s Delhi elections.
One such family is of Mohammad Shareef, fondly called Bade Abba, who lives in Nabi Kareem area in the Ballimaran constituency in the old city.
The family has nearly 150 members out of which 99 are registered voters. The family shifted from Punjab to the Nabi Kareem area in the national capital more than six decades ago after the partition and since then it has backed the Congress.
But the family this time has shifted the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its candidate Mushrafin.
Mushrafin is fighting against Congress’ Haroon Yusuf, a minister in the Delhi government and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Moti Lal Sodhi.
“In our house, the word of Bade abba is final and he decided to vote for the BSP candidate this time. All of us voted for Mushrafin,” Shareef’s nephew Mohammad Nazim told IANS.
“The main reason for supporting the BSP candidate was that for years, no developmental work was done in our area. We decided to support someone else this time so that the area can develop,” Nazim added.
Not just the votes, the family whole-heartedly campaigned for Mushrafin.
“Several people of our family campaigned for him. We also requested those who know us to vote for Mushrafin,” Nazim said. He even converted his kebab parantha hotel into a campaign post to help Mushrafin.
“People in our area listen to us and many support the candidate whom we support,” Nazim added.
Nazim said though our haveli (large house) was long ago divided into smaller units but the elders have kept the family united.