The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Durgesh Pathak as its candidate for the Rajinder Nagar constituency in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Currently serving as the youngest member of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee, Mr. Pathak seeks re-election after securing a victory in the 2022 bypolls from the same constituency.
Here are five key facts about Durgesh Pathak:
- Hailing from Sikohara village near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Durgesh Pathak moved to Delhi in 2010 to prepare for the Civil Services examination. His political journey began a year later when he volunteered for Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption (IAC) movement.
- Pathak played a pivotal role in building AAP’s foundation alongside leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav, and Prashant Bhushan. He managed Kejriwal’s successful campaign in 2013, which led to the defeat of then-Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
- In 2015, he was appointed as the co-convener for AAP’s Delhi unit, overseeing 35 out of 70 constituencies in the Assembly elections. Under his leadership, AAP won 34 of these seats. He later served as the co-incharge, alongside Sanjay Singh, for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections.
- Pathak made his electoral debut in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections from the Karawal Nagar seat but lost to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht. However, when Raghav Chadha’s Rajinder Nagar seat became vacant in 2022 following Chadha’s Rajya Sabha election, Pathak was chosen as AAP’s bypoll candidate. He secured a decisive victory over BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia by more than 11,000 votes.
- In July 2024, Pathak, along with four others, was implicated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi excise policy case. The agency alleged that funds acquired from kickbacks were utilized under his direction during AAP’s campaign for the 2022 Goa Assembly elections. Despite these allegations, a Delhi court granted him bail in September 2024.
