Delhi Polls: Riot-hit Trilokpuri sings saffron tune

A scene of communal tension and violence last Diwali, east Delhi's Trilokpuri neighbourhood came out to vote in sizeable numbers under a blanket of beefed security on Saturday. The locality is largely home to daily wagers, lock makers, masons, carpenters and welders who had to make their way to work. The voters in Trilokpuri were anything but undecided about their preferred choice. They said the Diwali riots have brought out in the open the rifts between communities. First-time voter Rahul Kumar Gupta, 18, said, "The clashes in Diwali have made the communal divide more apparent and it is not concealed anymore. Besides, the AAP's promises of freebies appear hollow compared to the BJP's poll promise of employment generation."

The clashes also seem to have consolidated the vote banks of Valmikis and other schedule castes and backward classes in favour of BJP whose vote is otherwise is split between parties.