Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Durgesh Pathak was leading in the Rajinder Nagar constituency against BJP’s Umang Bajaj in the assembly election, early results showed on Saturday.
The Election Commission is unveiling results for all 70 Delhi constituencies. Rajinder Nagar saw voting take place in a single phase on February 5, 2025. The seat witnessed a high-stakes contest between AAP’s Durgesh Pathak, BJP’s Umang Bajaj, and Congress’ Vineet Yadav. Voter turnout in Delhi stood at around 60.42%, a slight dip from 62.59% in 2020.
In 2010, Durgesh Pathak moved to Delhi to prepare for the Civil Services examination. A year later, he joined Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption (IAC) movement as a volunteer. He was born in Sikohara village near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
In his early years as an activist, Durgesh Pathak was actively involved in shaping AAP’s presence in Delhi, working closely with Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav, and Prashant Bhushan. In 2013, he played a key role in managing Kejriwal’s election campaign, which led to the defeat of then-chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
Rajinder Nagar Election Results: AAP, BJP, and Congress in a tight contest
Ahead of the 2015 Delhi assembly elections, Durgesh Pathak was appointed as the party’s Delhi co-convener and was given charge of 35 constituencies. Under his leadership, AAP secured victory in 34 of them. His role extended beyond Delhi when he, along with Sanjay Singh, oversaw the party’s campaign for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections.
Pathak made his electoral debut in the 2020 assembly polls, contesting from Karawal Nagar. While AAP returned to power with a landslide win, he lost to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht. In 2022, after Raghav Chadha’s Rajinder Nagar seat became vacant following his election to the Rajya Sabha, AAP nominated Pathak for the bypoll. He won convincingly, defeating BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia by over 11,000 votes.
{{/usCountry}}Pathak made his electoral debut in the 2020 assembly polls, contesting from Karawal Nagar. While AAP returned to power with a landslide win, he lost to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht. In 2022, after Raghav Chadha’s Rajinder Nagar seat became vacant following his election to the Rajya Sabha, AAP nominated Pathak for the bypoll. He won convincingly, defeating BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia by over 11,000 votes.
{{/usCountry}}This time, the BJP has fielded 31-year-old Umang Bajaj against Durgesh Pathak. A post-graduate, Bajaj has a clean record with no pending cases. His total assets are valued at ₹10.8 crore, comprising ₹7.5 crore in movable assets and ₹3.3 crore in immovable property.
The Delhi excise policy case took a new turn in July 2024 when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Durgesh Pathak and four others as accused. The agency alleged that funds received through kickbacks were used under Pathak’s instructions during AAP’s 2022 Goa Assembly election campaign. In September 2024, a Delhi court granted him bail.
Rajinder Nagar, which falls under the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, has long been seen as an AAP stronghold. The constituency is largely urban, home to a middle-class demographic that includes traders, professionals, and government employees.