NEW DELHI: Member of Parliament from East Delhi Harsh Malhotra was sworn in as Minister of State (MoS) on Sunday in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) council of ministers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He is the only MP among the seven from Delhi to find a place in the council.
Malhotra, 47, claimed 52.33 per cent of the votes, defeating the INDIA bloc’s candidate, the AAP Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar. He polled 6,64,819 votes against Kumar’s 5,71,156 votes, for a victory margin of 93,663 votes. However, his margin is 6.85 per cent less among the seven BJP MP elects from Delhi.
He is presently the general secretary of the Delhi BJP and in-charge of the training department.
Malhotra’s political journey began when he joined the BJP youth Wing in 1984 and steadily climbed the ranks, serving as president and district secretary of Yuva Morcha Mandal. He was appointed district general secretary of the organisation in 2005 and later became district president of the BJP in 2007. Currently, he is also an executive member of BJP Delhi, a position he holds with great responsibility.
He contested and won the Delhi Municipal Corporation elections from Welcome Colony in 2012 with a huge margin. He was then appointed chairman of the education committee of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation and remained chairman for three years.
During his tenure at EDMC, Harsh Malhotra launched and completed the ‘‘SUPOSHAN’’ programme, benefiting nearly 60,000 primary students of 398 municipal schools to eradicate malnutrition. He also led the initiation of computer education for approximately 2.5 lakh underprivileged children at MCD schools. In 2015, he was elected as Mayor of East Delhi Municipal Corporation, where he focused on waste management and launched innovative projects like ‘waste to wealth’ from construction and building waste, and electricity generation from municipal garbage.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, Harsh Vardhan, MP from Chandni Chowk, was Minister of Health and Family Welfare from 2019 to 2021, in addition to Minister of Science & Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences. Meenakshi Lekhi, MP from the New Delhi constituency, was Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Culture from 2021 until the end of the session.