E-Paper
Haryana Assembly Polls: Umesh Aggarwal, Gurugram MLA
Aggarwal began his political career as a student leader. He was also a trade leader. He joined BJP in 2006 and was appointed the state’s media in-charge. He lost the 2009 assembly polls by 24,000 votes but in 2014 he won by 84,095 votes.
Umesh Aggarwal, 49, is the BJP MLA from Gurugram constituency of Haryana.
Aggarwal began his political career as a student leader. He was also a trade leader. He joined BJP in 2006 and was appointed the state’s media in-charge. He lost the 2009 assembly polls by 24,000 votes but in 2014 he won by 84,095 votes.
Educational qualification: MA
Assets declared in 2014: ₹11.23 crore
Movable: ₹23 lakh
Immovable: ₹11 crore
Constituency primer: Gurugram is a predominantly urban constituency dominated by the Punjabis. The constituency has around 3.5 lakh voters. The segment has a large number of number of colonies with mixed populations on either sides of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. The villages are dominated by Jats and Yadavs.
Electoral History:
2014: Umesh Aggarwal of BJP defeated Gopi Chand Gahlot of INLD
2009: Independent candidate Sukhbeer Kataria defeated Dharambir Gaba of Congress.
2005: Dharambir Gaba of Congress defeated Gopi Chand Gahlot of INLD
How he performed: Developing Gurugram was a priority for the state government due to its proximity to the national capital. Thus, the first-time MLA has undoubtedly been lucky. In last five years, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, a government university, a medical college and new flyovers were set up. The MLA says it was on his insistence that power connections were provided in disputed areas. However, his detractors allege that Aggarwal has been protecting and promoting the development of unauthorised colonies.
Quote: A lot of development has taken place in Gurugram in the last five years. As far as unauthorised colonies are concerned, I have always maintained that they should be nipped in the bud. We will not allow demolition of homes come what may.
By the way: He has been an avid Chess player since his youth
