Two ex-mayors, former Union minister's daughter among BJP victors in Delhi

New Delhi: Two ex-mayors, a popular actor, and the daughter of a former external affairs minister were among the BJP candidates whose victories helped the saffron party sweep Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats for the third consecutive time.

Among its seven candidates this time, the BJP only retained Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi. The other six were contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time.

Praveen Khandewal, fielded in place of former Union minister Harsh Vardhan, won by a margin of 89,325 votes from Chandni Chowk while Ramvir Singh Biduri won the South Delhi seat by 1.24 lakh votes.

From the New Delhi constituency, Bansuri Swaraj -- who replaced incumbent MP Meenakshi Lekhi -- won by 78,370 votes.

Bansuri Swaraj is the daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj and lawyer and former Mizoram governor Swaraj Kaushal.

A Supreme Court advocate, she was appointed as co-convenor of the BJP's legal cell in Delhi in 2023.

The BJP's East Delhi candidate Harshdeep Malhotra, who replaced cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir from the seat, won by 93,663 votes.

He first became a councillor of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation in 2012 from Welcome Colony. He was appointed chairman of the the civic body's education committee before taking over as mayor in 2015-16.

Yogendra Chandoliya, whose victory margin of 2.90 lakh votes from the North West Delhi constituency was the highest among all the winning candidates in the national capital in these elections, also served as a mayor.

He held the post in the erstwhile North Delhi Municipal Corporation. He has been a prominent Scheduled Caste community face for the BJP in Delhi.

"I said from Day 1 that the BJP would win all seven seats in Delhi. I also said that the biggest winning margin would be in North West Delhi. I will meet the BJP workers and RWA (Residents' Welfare Association) members on Wednesday to thank them," said Chandoliya, who was fielded in place of Hans Raj Hans.

"I will take a list of projects and make the North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat one of the best in Delhi. I thank all the voters who have voted for me," he added.

Both Malhotra and Chandoliya are general secretaries of the BJP's Delhi unit.

Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, replaced Ramesh Bidhuri from the South Delhi seat.

Belonging to the Gujjar community, he has spent more than 50 years in politics. He was among the five Janata Dal MLAs elected to the reconstituted Delhi Legislative Assembly in 1993.

A Purvanchali leader, Tiwari was a popular actor and singer in Bhojpuri films before he forayed into politics. He contested his first Lok Sabha elections from Gorakhpur on a Samajwadi Party ticket but lost to the BJP's Yogi Adityanath in 2009.

He scored his first victory in the 2014 elections from North East Delhi. In 2019, Tiwari defeated former Delhi chief minister and Congress stalwart Sheila Dikshit to secure a second term in the Lok Sabha.

This time, Tiwari defeated the Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar by 1.38 lakh votes.

Representing the Baniya community, Khandewlal is general secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders. He forayed into electoral politics in 2008, unsuccessfully contesting the Delhi assembly elections from Chandni Chowk.

Kamaljeet Sehrawat, fielded in place of Parvesh Verma from West Delhi, is a two-term municipal councillor from Dwarka. She has been active in Delhi politics for almost two decades.

In 2017, she contested her first municipal election from Dwarka-B in the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation and won by the the highest margin.

Her victory margin in her first Lok Sabha election was 1.99 lakh votes.