Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Meet Harsh Malhotra, BJP Candidate From East Delhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has picked Harsh Malhotra to contest from the East Delhi seat in the Lok Sabha polls. Mr Malhotra is a former mayor of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. He is one of the six candidates replacing incumbent BJP MPs in Delhi.

Earlier this month, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, the sitting MP from East Delhi, requested BJP chief JP Nadda to relieve him of political duties, citing his sports-related commitments. 

Here are five points about Harsh Malhotra:

1) Harsh Malhotra, one of the three general secretaries of the BJP's Delhi unit, is a BSc graduate from Delhi University's Hansraj College. He also pursued an LLB from DU in 1987. 

2) In 2012, Mr Malhotra became a councillor from the Welcome ward. In 2015, he was elected as the mayor of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation. During his time as mayor, Mr Malhotra was also appointed the Chairman of the Education Committee of EDMC, a post he served for three years.

3) The 58-year-old comes from the Punjabi community, which has a fairly large presence in the East Delhi constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP won the seat by over 3.9 lakh votes.

4) Apart from his political commitments, Harsh Malhotra is also the president of Dadhichi Deh Dan Samiti, a non-government organisation (NGO) dedicated to the cause of spreading awareness on organ donation.

5) Harsh Malhotra will face Aam Aadmi Party's Kuldeep Kumar, who is currently a legislator from the Kondli Assembly seat of the East Delhi parliamentary seat. AAP and Congress have agreed to a 4:3 seat-sharing formula for Delhi to put up a joint fight in the Lok Sabha elections.