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Saurabh Bhardwaj

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Saurabh Bharadwaj
Cabinet Minister, Government of Delhi
In office
9 March 2023 – 17 September 2024
Lieutenant GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena
Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal
Ministry and Departments
  • Home
  • Health
  • Power
  • Water
  • Industries
  • Urban development
  • Irrigation
  • Flood Control
Preceded bySatyendra Kumar Jain
In office
28 December 2013 – 14 February 2014
Lieutenant GovernorNajeeb Jung
Ministry and Departments
  • Transport
  • Food & Supply
  • Environment
  • GAD
Preceded byRamakant Goswami
Succeeded byPresident's rule
Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
14 February 2015
Preceded byPresident's rule
In office
28 December 2013 – 14 February 2014
Preceded byVijay Kumar Malhotra
Succeeded byPresident's rule
ConstituencyGreater Kailash
Vice Chairman of Delhi Jal Board
Assumed office
22 March 2022
Preceded byRaghav Chadha
Personal details
Born (1979-12-12) 12 December 1979 (age 44)[1]
New Delhi, India
Political partyAam Aadmi Party
SpouseShivani Bharadwaj
ResidenceNew Delhi
Alma materBharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering Branch computer science
Osmania University

Saurabh Bharadwaj is an Indian politician from the Aam Aadmi Party, representing Greater Kailash constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.[2] He was the Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board and Minister of Health, Urban development and water since 9 March 2023. He was stripped of his positions on 8 August 2023 and his ministries were given to PWD chief Atishi. He is also the National Chief Spokesperson Of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Early life and education

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Bharadwaj was born in New Delhi and completed his early schooling from the city. He graduated as a Computer Science Engineer from Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in 2003. He has also completed a bachelor's degree in law from Osmania University in 2011.[3] Before entering politics, Bhardwaj worked with Johnson Controls India, and his expertise was in microchips and coding. Bhardwaj started his career as a software engineer in Invensys.[4]

Political career

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Saurabh Bhardwaj won the Greater Kailash assembly constituency, defeating Ajay Kumar Malhotra, son of the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and incumbent Leader of Opposition V.K. Malhotra, by 13092 votes in the 2013 Delhi Assembly election. In 2015, the young AAP leader defeated Rakesh Guliya of BJP by 14,583 votes. Bhardwaj was a Cabinet Minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government during the 49-day tenure between 28 December 2013 and 14 February 2014.

Bhardwaj shot to fame on 9 May, when he claimed to hack a look-alike machine similar to EVM (Electronic voting machine) allegedly used by the Election Commission.[5] The AAP used the hacking by Bhardwaj to substantiate its claims of EVM tampering during recent elections. The Election Commission later claimed that it cannot take responsibility for any machine that is not under its own security systems and rejected the hacking attempt by Bhardwaj.

Saurabh Bhardwaj has been appointed Chief Spokesperson for Delhi unit of AAP.[6][7]

On 28 June 2017, Bhardwaj filed a complaint to the Assembly Speaker against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa for accusing the Delhi Petitions Committee of allegedly blackmailing officials.[8] On 5 October 2024, he and some of his friends were arrested for disorderly behaviour. [9]

Positions held

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Year Description
2013 - 2014 Elected to 5th Delhi Assembly from Greater Kailash
  • Cabinet Minister for Transport, Food & Supply,
    Environment and GAD (28 December 2013 – 14 February 2014)
2015 - 2020 Elected to 6th Delhi Assembly from Greater Kailash
2020 - Till Date Elected to 7th Delhi Assembly from Greater Kailash
  • Cabinet Minister for Home, Health, Power, Water,
    Industries, Urban development, Irrigation and
    Flood Control (9 March 2023 – Till Date)

References

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  1. ^ "Saurabh Bhardwaj birth date | Who is Saurabh Bhardwaj | Saurabh Bhardwaj Biography".
  2. ^ "MEMBERS OF THE SIXTH ASSEMBLY". delhiassembly.nic.in. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  3. ^ ADR. "Saurabh Bharadwaj(AAP):Constituency- GREATER KAILASH(NEW DELHI) - Affidavit Information of Candidate". myneta.info. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Meet Saurabh Bhardwaj, The AAP MLA who 'Proved' EVMs Could be Rigged". News18. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  5. ^ "EVM tampering: This is how AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed any candidate can be made to win". The Indian Express. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  6. ^ "Official Spokespersons". Aam Aadmi Party. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  7. ^ "AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj appointed chief spokesperson of Delhi unit". Hindustan Times. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  8. ^ "AAP lodges complaint with Delhi Assembly speaker against BJP MLA". india.com. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  9. ^ https://www.aninews.in/news/national/politics/bus-marshals-protest-in-delhi-police-detain-aap-minister-saurabh-bharadwaj20241005185003/
State Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly
from Greater Kailash (Vidhan Sabha constituency)

2013, 2015, 2020 – present
Incumbent
Aam Aadmi Party political offices
Preceded by
-
Chief Spokesperson
May 2017 – present
Incumbent