5 Facts On AAP Ex-MLA Kapil Mishra: BJP Pick For Delhi's Karawal Nagar

Kapil Mishra, a former AAP leader, is BJP's candidate from the Karawal Nagar constituency in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Mr Mishra has replaced the sitting MLA Mohan Singh Bisht, who is contesting from the Mustafabad seat.

The voting for the Delhi Assembly election is scheduled for February 5. The results will be out on February 8.

Here are five facts on Kapil Mishra:

• Kapil Mishra was born on November 13, 1980, in Delhi. He is the son of Annapurna Mishra, a former East Delhi mayor, and Rameshwar Mishra, a socialist leader. He completed his education from Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College.
• Kapil Mishra co-founded "Youth for Justice," a group to address socio-economic issues. He led protests on issues such as farmer suicides, encroachment on the Yamuna River bed and corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Before entering politics, Mr Mishra worked with Greenpeace and Amnesty International, focusing on policy advocacy. He gained prominence after writing a book, It's Common v/s Wealth, about the Commonwealth Games.
• Mr Mishra contested the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Karawal Nagar. He defeated BJP's Mohan Singh Bisht by almost 45,000 votes. He was appointed Delhi's water resources minister in the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. In 2017, he was sacked from the cabinet over alleged irregularities in his ministry. He was also disqualified as an MLA in August 2019 for anti-party activities and defection.
• In 2016, as Delhi's water resource minister, he formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the alleged Rs 400-crore water tanker scam under the previous Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit. Kapil Mishra, then, accused the AAP government of delaying action and covering up corruption. In 2017, he alleged the Chief Minister had accepted Rs 2 crore in cash from health minister Satyendar Jain – claims later dismissed for lack of evidence. Following these accusations, Mr Mishra was removed from the party cabinet. During a hunger strike at Arvind Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence in May 2017, he was slapped multiple times by a man, before being stopped by his supporters.
• On August 17, 2019, Kapil Mishra joined the BJP. He has often faced flak for his controversial statements. In January 2020, he compared the Delhi Assembly elections to an "India vs Pakistan" contest, receiving a 48-hour campaign ban from the Election Commission. He was criticised during the North East Delhi riots in February 2020, where his inflammatory remarks and hate speech at a rally allegedly incited violence. He was appointed Vice President of the Delhi BJP in August 2023.