New Delhi:
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Saurabh Bhardwaj from the Greater Kailash (GK) seat in the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February 2025. Mr Bharadwaj, a three-time MLA, is the minister for health, urban development, water and industries in Delhi.
Five facts about Saurabh Bharadwaj:
1) Saurabh Bhardwaj was born and raised in Delhi. He is a computer science engineer and a law graduate from Osmania University. Mr Bhardwaj’s political journey began in 2013 when he was first elected to the Delhi Assembly from the Greater Kailash seat. He was entrusted with several crucial portfolios, including food & supply, transport and environment in what was a 49-day government led by Arvind Kejriwal.
2) In the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, Mr Bhardwaj defeated BJP’s Rakesh Kumar Gullaiya. He was not retained as a cabinet minister during Arvind Kejriwal’s first full five-year term as the Delhi Chief Minister.
3) The engineer-turned-politician remained a prominent face in AAP, representing the party as a spokesperson during television debates. In May 2017, on the floor of the Delhi Assembly, Saurabh Bhardwaj used an electronic voting machine (EVM) prototype to demonstrate they could be hacked using a “secret code”. The legislator showed how votes cast for AAP could purportedly be transferred to the BJP. While these claims stirred significant debate, they were ultimately refuted by the Election Commission. Mr Bhardwaj and his party called EVMs a “threat to democracy” and pushed for greater transparency in the electoral process.
4) In 2020, Mr Bhardwaj was re-elected from GK for the third time. He defeated BJP’s Shikha Roy by a margin of 16809 votes. On March 9, 2023, Mr Bhardwaj was sworn in as a Minister in the Delhi government after the resignation of Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption and money laundering cases. He has since been in charge of health, urban development, water and industries.
5) In October 2024, an FIR was filed against Saurabh Bhardwaj and three AAP MLAs following a row over the reinstatement of bus marshals. The complaint was made by Leader of Opposition, Vijender Gupta, accusing the AAP MLAs of misbehaviour. The incident occurred after BJP MLAs submitted a memorandum on the issue.
