On Thursday, several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were sworn in as cabinet ministers alongside Delhi’s newly elected chief minister, Rekha Gupta, during a grand ceremony at Ramlila Maidan. Among those taking the oath were Parvesh Verma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra, Ashish Sood, Pankaj Kumar Singh, and Ravinder Indraj Singh.
Parvesh Verma is a well-known Jat leader in Delhi politics who gained recognition by defeating Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency by 4,089 votes. After the BJP’s victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, where they won 48 out of 70 seats, Verma emerged as a potential candidate for the top position. He previously served as a Lok Sabha MP for West Delhi from 2014 to 2024.
Kapil Mishra, who won the Karawal Nagar seat by defeating AAP’s Manoj Kumar Tyagi with a margin of 23,355 votes, was once part of AAP. He served as Delhi’s water resources minister but was removed after accusing his colleague Satyendar Jain of corruption. Mishra later joined BJP and contested the 2020 Delhi assembly elections, but lost to AAP’s Akhilesh Pati Tripathi. He faced criticism for his role in the 2020 Delhi riots.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa made a comeback by winning the Rajouri Garden seat, defeating AAP’s Dhanwati Chandela by over 18,000 votes. Sirsa had previously represented the constituency in 2017 during a by-election, but lost in the 2020 Delhi elections to AAP’s Chandela.
Ashish Sood, another key BJP leader in Delhi, won the Janakpuri seat by defeating AAP’s Parveen Kumar with a margin of 18,766 votes. He had also been a contender for the Delhi Chief Minister role. Sood is also the BJP’s co-incharge for Jammu and Kashmir.
Pankaj Kumar Singh, a dentist by profession and the son of former MCD leader Raja Mohan Singh, won his first assembly election from Vikaspuri, defeating AAP’s Mahinder Yadav by almost 13,000 votes. Singh has served in various roles within the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Ravinder Indraj Singh, representing the Dalit community, won the Bawana seat by a large margin of over 31,000 votes, defeating AAP’s Jai Bhagwan Upkar. Singh, a member of BJP’s SC Morcha, has been an advocate for the Dalit community in Delhi.
