Electorates and their Concerns: Filed Notes on Mustafabad Constituency 

Moderator: CDBA Team
Enumerator: Khushi Mohata

The democratic fabric of India is interwoven with diverse threads of opinions, beliefs, and aspirations. In the context of the Delhi Assembly Election 2025, this field note presents enumerators’ participant observation of political awareness, social dynamics, and electoral behavior across various section of Mustafabad assembly constituency.

 The demography

This constituency represents a politically aware and charged populace, albeit with varying levels of engagement across social and economic strata. The narrow lanes of this locality reflect a political landscape shaped by historical narratives, welfare politics, and community-based affiliations. While political awareness is high, participation and agency differ significantly across gender, age, and socioeconomic status.
Mustafabad’s demographic composition is predominantly Hindu and Muslim, creating a unique political dynamic. While these communities often held contrasting political perspectives, internal cohesion within each group remained strong. Notably, generational differences played a crucial role in shaping political attitudes—first-time voters exhibited distinctly different perspectives from older generations, showing an inclination toward issue-based politics rather than traditional party loyalty.

The Slum Perspective
Surprisingly, slum residents demonstrated high political awareness and engagement. Their support was predominantly aligned with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), largely due to welfare schemes offering free electricity and water. However, political agency among women in these areas remained limited, with many deferring voting decisions to male family members. The lack of independent decision-making among women reflects broader structural barriers to political participation.

 Middle-Income Group

The middle-income population exhibited a more nuanced political stance. While a segment of this group remained loyal to Arvind Kejriwal's leadership, others expressed a desire for political alternatives, albeit with skepticism about the potential for real change. This group displayed a pragmatic approach to politics, weighing policy effectiveness over party loyalty.

The Educated Segment

Engagement with educated residents, particularly around educational institutions, revealed a contrasting dynamic. These respondents showed hesitancy in discussing politics, often requiring verification of the researcher's credentials before engaging. Unlike other groups, their political priorities were policy-driven rather than populist, focusing on:

• Quality and accessibility of education
• Healthcare infrastructure
• Urban planning and development 

Gender Dynamics

A crucial aspect of the study was women’s political participation, particularly among Muslim households. The research revealed limited independent political expression, with many women requiring spousal approval even for basic survey responses. This dynamic required extended efforts to build trust and gather authentic responses.

Despite this, younger women from more urbanized backgrounds demonstrated a greater degree of political awareness and independent decision-making. The generational shift in women’s political agency suggests a gradual but noticeable transformation in voter behavior.

 Welfare Policies

The study uncovered fascinating patterns in the utilization and acknowledgment of government schemes:
• Mohalla Clinics were the most widely recognized initiative, reflecting AAP’s successful branding of accessible healthcare.
• Reluctance among beneficiaries to acknowledge welfare benefits—possibly due to social stigma or political biases.
• A visible divide between welfare-dependent and self-reliant segments, where economic independence correlated with greater political scrutiny of governance models. 

Electoral Participation

Mustafabad has consistently recorded one of the highest voter turnouts in Delhi, demonstrating a strong culture of electoral engagement. However, the depth of political awareness varied:
• Basic political issues were well understood, but comprehension of broader governance implications remained limited.
• Strong opinions on leadership were prevalent, but many voters lacked awareness of policy nuances.
• Government welfare schemes played a crucial role in shaping political preferences, reaffirming the effectiveness of direct benefit-based electoral strategies. 

Observation

This field study in Mustafabad exposes the intricate relationship between religious identity, economic status, and political engagement in urban Delhi. The findings highlight how different societal segments engage with the political system and make electoral choices.
A critical takeaway from the study is the central role of welfare schemes in shaping voter behavior, particularly among lower-income and slum communities. However, the study also suggests the limitations of political awareness across different social strata, with some voters prioritizing short-term benefits over long-term governance effectiveness as most of the voters desired.