Spiralling prices and the shooting crime graph, particularly after the gunning down of Samata Party candidate Ved Singh, have pushed issues like the `insult' to the Jat community after Sahib Singh's ouster into the background.

``The village elders may still go by the panchayat's diktat but we will not vote blindly. Our personal equation with the candidates will determine our vote,'' says Subodh Singh, a property dealer in village Nangloi Jat.

Jagdish Singh Lambardar agrees. According to him, even voting on class, caste and the gotra factors will not work. ``Take for example the Nangloi Jat constituency. We have Devendra Singh Shaukeen contesting on the BJP ticket and his cousinJai Prakash on the Janata Dal ticket. This time voting will be strictly on personal equations,'' he says.

From Bawana to Najafgarh, the focus is on Ved Singh's murder. ``It is not that he was a winning candidate or would have made a major impact. It is just that his killing has weakened the BJP's position and it appears that they have panicked,'' says Jitendra Singh, a tractor spare parts dealer in Bawana. ``And the way the police went around beating up people after the incident, word has spread in our community. People are angry and naturally the Congress will benefit from this,'' he adds.

But Choudhary Zile Singh, a village elder, disagrees. ``Sahib Singh's contribution to rural Delhi cannot be denied. He has done personal favours to thousands of people. Now is the time that he will reap the harvest. He will get votes because of his ties with the people,'' he says.

Rural Delhi voters insist that they are not gawachi gaa (lost cow) and the elections will prove it. The Tata Sumo driving youthwear Ray Ban sun glasses, Reebok shoes and say all the brouhaha surrounding a maha-panchayat is only for the benefit of the media. ``Sajjan Kumar cannot seek votes for the Congress because he is a Jat. If his candidates can get us better prices for land, roads, electricity and most of all, security from the gun toting mafia, we will vote for the Congress,'' says Satish Singh, a second year student of Deshbandhu college living in Mehrauli.

Outer Delhi also is no longer a Jat bastion. Jat villages are are being surrounded by migrants mainly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Like the Shahbad-Daulatpur constituency which has a large population of people from Bihar who are registered voters.

``But Jats are an emotional lot. They can be swayed even one night before the elections and both the BJP and the Congress are hoping for something that will trigger their emotions. The Congress' dropsy card did not work with the Jats for they do not eat mustard oil. The BJP, on its part, is desperately trying to bring downonion prices and the Samata candidate's killing is not an issue enough,'' says Devi Singh, member of the Najafgarh gau-shala.