New Delhi:
The real battle for Delhi will be fought in the dense slums and sprawling resettlement colonies, which all parties neglect, except during election time. Together, they house two-thirds of the city, and yet they remain gripped with anxiety, uncertain of their rights and their legal status, perfect for political exploitation.
What most of the city calls home, falls into a series of categories so complicated that it needs a rough guide.
Slum dwellers are relocated to what are called resettlement colonies. There are 45 of them, home to approximately 20 lakh people. Each family is entitled to a 12.5 square metres plot to build a house, but only for a lease of 10 years. They are entitled to basic services like water, electricity and sanitation.
But these colonies were outpaced by the growth of slums or JJ clusters, legal in the eyes of the government, but several court rulings have found them illegal squatters, and there is always a risk of being dislocated. There are 685 slums, which house another 30 lakh people. Even so, they are entitled to basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity.
Unauthorised colonies evolved as people bought land from private sellers but have not been conferred legal status. There are over a 1,000 of them, home to roughly 30 lakh people. They are, at least on paper, not entitled to any services.
Our journey begins in Bhalaswa, a resettlement colony on the north-western edge of Delhi in the constituency of Badli.
The entrance is a sprawling yard of garbage. Little wonder that those who live here, relocated from the slums of central Delhi, express a sense of betrayal.
Today, there are houses, roads, shops but every basic right has come after fierce battles with the authorities.
Marooned far away from the Central Delhi settlements where they lived, there is little by way of local employment. Garbage sorting is a key driver of the local economy.
A degrading existence that has produced other forms of degradation - alcohol and drug abuse - is on open display. The most common and cheapest form of addiction are sniffing fumes from glue like fevicol tubes, or any other form of adhesive cheaply available.
And yet, it is from the squalor that the Congress claims its strongest base. Bhalaswa falls in the Badli assembly seat, which elected Congress' Devender Yadav in 2008.
Activists tell us Mr Yadav, after being elected, has been unresponsive, refusing to listen to complaints of residents.
But he claims he has done much to transform his constituency.
The reason for the Congress' confidence, say activists, is that they have, over the years, mastered the art of granting of basic rights like water and sewerage into acts of patronage. The most profound right - of ownership - is held back till the end, ensuring a near total dependence on the political establishment.
Three months before the Delhi elections, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi magnanimously announced that all those who live in resettlement colonies will get a permanent lease for their plot of land.
That promise - made before every election - has yet to reach those living in Bhalaswa, or in any other resettlement colony.
In another part of Badli constituency, the BJP's Vijay Bhagat, who is contesting against Mr Yadav, hopes to benefit from public anger.
But the BJP has controlled the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, or the MCD, for the past three decades which is responsible for providing basic services to the slum and resettlement colonies that fall under its jurisdiction.
Mr Bhagat had no explanation for why the MCD had failed to provide those services in resettlement colonies like Bhalaswa.
In Bhalaswa, we are told that voters are wary of the Congress and BJP's false promises. "We are thinking about the Aam Aadmi Party quite seriously," said one resident.