Articles by Prerna Chatterjee

Dr. Harsh Vardhan represents Chandni Chowk in Delhi as a Member of Parliament besides being the incumbent minister at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Earth Sciences in the BJP-led NDA government. His political journey started in 1992 when he was elected as member of Delhi State Assembly for the first time. He was contesting from the Krishna Nagar constituency. He has been re-elected from the same constituency four times - 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013. He has been a minister at the Health Ministry, Law Ministry and Education…

With inputs from Sri Krishna, Delhi Considered a prestigious Lok Sabha seat, this constituency has been represented in the past by senior BJP leaders like Sushma Swaraj, late chief minister Madan Lal Khurana and senior party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra who defeated former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here. Given this pedigree, the 2019 contest, however, is between little known sitting BJP MP Ramesh Kumar Bhiduri, 57, and two new comers: AAP’s Raghav Chadha, a 31-year-old chartered accountant who is the AAP’s treasurer and national spokesperson, and Olympic medal winner turned professional boxer Vijendra Singh, 33, for Congress. It is spread…

Avoiding election frenzy and the intense heat of Delhi summers, South Delhi MP, Ramesh Bidhuri is seen spending most of his time in his poll war room in Mehrauli. His complacence comes from BJP’s strong organisational hold over South Delhi which is enough for him to dismiss his political opponents who are busy taking part in road shows and rallies. Since his college days, Bidhuri has been active in the BJP. In 2003-08 he became the Vice President of BJP, Delhi unit. He won three consecutive terms as an MLA from 2003 to 2014 . He stood as the BJP…

With inputs from Sri Krishna, Delhi Dropping its sitting member Udit Raj and fielding a non-filmi Punjabi and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans could make the going tough for BJP, which had won all the seven Delhi seats in 2014. Udit Raj, 58, National Chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations, has now joined the Congress, vowing “not even a single Dalit will vote for the BJP." AAP leaders, however, have said that Hans Raj Hans cannot contest from this SC-reserved seat since he converted to Islam in 2014. The 2008 delimitation exercise saw North West Delhi came…

Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma is the incumbent BJP MP from West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. He is the son of BJP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma. He had contested from Mehrauli constituency in the 2013 assembly elections, and defeated Yoganand Shastri, Speaker in erstwhile Delhi assembly. Personal Information Name: Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma Age: 41 Address: 20, Windsor Place, Near BSNL House, Janpath Road, New Delhi-110001 Phone: 9811361000 Constituency: West Delhi Party: Bharatiya Janata Party Term: 2014 – in office Twitter: @p_sahibsingh Educational Qualifications: Postgraduate Profession: Businessman Pending criminal cases: None Year Moveable Assets Immovable Assets…

Manoj Kumar Tiwari had a colourful past as a popular Bhojpuri actor and even a Big Boss contestant, before he joined politics. Tiwari joined politics in 2009, and got a ticket from Samajwadi Party to contest in that year's Lok Sabha election from Gorakhpur. However, he lost to Yogi Adityanath of BJP. By 2014, he had switched to the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). He won the North East Delhi constituency in 2014 as a BJP candidate. In spite of high rhetoric and promises, Tiwari has failed to fully utilise the MPLADS funds allocated to him to develop his constituency, which…

Meenakshi Lekhi from BJP was Member of Parliament from New Delhi constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. She is the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Supreme Court lawyer. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she won the much coveted New Delhi seat with over 4.5 lakh votes as a BJP candidate. In July 2016, she was appointed chairperson of the Committee on Privileges of the Lok Sabha in Parliament. She is a regular contributor to political journals and newspapers, penning 'Forthwrite', a fortnightly column in The Week magazine. She has also distinguished herself as an active…

ADR has analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 967 out of 979 candidates, who are contesting in the sixth phase of the ongoing general elections, scheduled for May 12th. Topping the list of crorepatis is Jyotiraditya M. Scindia fighting from Guna constituency of Madhya Pradesh with a Congress ticket. He possesses assets worth Rs 374 crore. Second on the list is Gautam Gambhir with assets over Rs 147 crore. The former national-level cricketer also has the highest liabilities (among Phase 6 candidates) of over Rs 34 crore and highest annual income of over Rs 12 crore for financial year 2017-18 as…

Friday morning dawned overcast and grey. There was an unmistakable stillness in the air.  Households were unusually quiet except for the blaring news channels. Apprehension had gripped the city of Kolkata by now. Fani, the most disastrous cyclone in two decades had already hit Orissa. Kolkata was slated to be its next target. By early morning, local news channels were high on theatrics and drama. Footages of windows shattering and tin roofs being blown away were replayed over and over again in different channels. Bengali anchors used big words and talked about ice age being the final manifestation of climate…

The fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held on May 6th in 51 constituencies across Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has published its comprehensive analysis of candidates contesting in this phase. In a first, around 12% of the candidates in the fray on May 6th are women. This is the highest percentage of women so far and surpasses the previous four phases of elections. It is five percentage points higher than the 7% representation seen in the first phase. However, in absolute terms, women…