Bandana Kumari
Member of Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
8 December 2013
Preceded byRavinder Nath Bansal
ConstituencyShalimar Bagh
Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly
In office
23 February 2015 – 4 June 2016
Succeeded byRakhi Birla
Personal details
Born (1974-03-11) 11 March 1974 (age 50)
Samastipur, Bihar
NationalityIndian
Political partyAam Aadmi Party
EducationBabasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, (B.A.)

Bandana Kumari is an Indian politician who currently serves as Member of Legislative Assembly for Shalimar Bagh constituency since 2013. She has served as Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly and former president of women's wing of the party, Aam Aadmi Party Mahila Shakti.[1]

Personal life

Bandana was born on 11 March 1974 in Samastipur, Bihar in a Bhumihar Brahmin family. Her father's name is Braj Kishore Sharma.[2] She completed her 12th standard from Ram Briksh Benipuri School, Muzaffarpur in 1991 under the BSE (state) board. Bandana further got the Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) from B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzzaffarpur in 1994. Her husband's name is Sajjan Kumar. Both of them were self-employed as per 2013 affidavit.[3] She is presently a housewife [4] and a social worker. She is a resident of Shalimar Bagh, Delhi with her husband and son.[2][5]

Politics

In the assembly elections of December 2013, Bandana Kumari was elected as an MLA from the Shalimar Bagh constituency in Delhi, defeated three-time sitting MLA, Ravinder Nath Bansal of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) by a margin of 10,651 votes; she secured 47,235 votes. She was instantly hailed as a "giant killer". Bandana's victory was considered a shocking defeat for the BJP as the constituency was traditionally considered to be a stronghold of the party. The constituency was with the BJP since 1993. Shalimar Bagh was also the constituency of BJP's chief minister Sahib Singh Verma in 1993 and Bansal had held the seat for 15 years.[6][7][8]

Bandana became President of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Mahila Shakti, the AAP's women's wing. She raised issues of women's safety in the city. The AAP's women's wing and Youth wing started 22 Gramin Sewa vehicles for females and senior citizens from Delhi metro stations in December 2014 to address Women's safety and woo women voters.[1] Bandana was renominated for Shalimar Bagh in the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections. She fought the election on issues of women's safety and corruption.[8]

Bandana won over BJP's Rekha Gupta, the Standing Committee Deputy Chairman New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), by a victory margin of 10,978 votes. She also got higher votes (62,656) than 2013 elections.[9][10][11]

The AAP won 67 of the 70 seats in Delhi. It announced on 12 February 2015 that Bandana Kumari would be its nominee for the deputy Speaker of the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi.[12] On 23 February, she was formally elected as deputy Speaker; while Ram Niwas Goel became the speaker.[13]

Electoral performance

This section is transcluded from Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency. (edit | history)
Delhi Assembly elections, 2020: Shalimar Bagh[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
AAP Bandana Kumari 57,707 49.41 -2.73
BJP Rekha Gupta 54,267 46.46 +3.45
INC Sulekh Aggarwal 2,491 2.13 -0.53
NOTA None of the above 735 0.63 +0.11
Majority 3,440 2.95 -6.18
Turnout 1,17,030 61.80 -7.09
AAP hold Swing -2.73

References

  1. ^ a b "Bandana Kumari flags off 22 Gramin Sewa vehicles for women". I am in DNAOf North East Delhi. 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.((cite news)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b "Profile". Delhi Assembly official site. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  3. ^ "2013 election affidavit" (PDF). docs2.myneta.info. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  4. ^ PTI (3 January 2015). "AAP names 8 more nominees, completes list for Delhi Assembly elections". CNN IBN. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  5. ^ "Shalimar Bagh: Results". NDTV. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Assembly polls 2013: No Modi magic in few of the Delhi seats; BJP blame infighting, casual attitude". The Economic Times. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  7. ^ Indrani Basu (10 February 2015). "6 Women Candidates Who Won Delhi Elections". The Huffington Post India. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  8. ^ a b "There is no Modi wave in the city". Deccan herald. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Election Result". ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  10. ^ Assembly Elections 2015 Results, Election Commission of India Archived 2015-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Delhi polls: AAP's broom sweeps away BJP mayors, councillors". The Economic Times. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  12. ^ Neha Lalchandani (12 February 2015). "Manish Sisodia to be deputy CM of Delhi". Times of India. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  13. ^ "Ram Niwas Goel is new Speaker, Bandana Kumari his deputy". The Asian Age. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  14. ^ "Statistical Report on General Election, 2020 to the Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
State Legislative Assembly Preceded by? Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly from Shalimar Bagh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) 2020– Incumbent
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