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Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar loses in North East Delhi by 1,38,778 votes against BJP's Manoj Tiwari in the Lok Sabha polls
ECI data show that Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar lost from the North East Delhi constituency by 1,38,778 votes.
Kanhaiya Kumar, Congress leader and former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), lost from the North East Delhi constituency in the Lok Sabha election by 1,38,778 votes against BJP's Manoj Tiwari according to ECI.
Kumar secured a total of 6,85,673 votes while Tiwari secured 8,24,451 votes.
Kumar, aged 37, had previously contested from Bihar’s Begusarai constituency in 2019. He was fielded by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), but lost to Union minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh with a vote margin of 34.45%.
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In 2019, the North East Delhi constituency was won by Manoj Tiwari for a second consecutive term after defeating Congress’ veteran leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. Tiwari had secured a vote share of 53.9%, while Dixit polled 28.85%.
In 2014, Tiwari had defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s Anand Kumar in the constituency with a margin of 34.31%.
Kanhaiya gained prominence in 2016 when he was charged with sedition for allegedly raising “anti-national” slogans during a protest at JNU against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
He joined Congress in 2021 and was appointed as incharge of the party’s student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). He is also a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
In the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, the INDIA bloc candidate had also received support through a crowdfunding initiative with contributors like popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, and stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra.
In a roadshow on May 6, Kumar announced his campaign focus was employment for youth, waiving education loans, and increasing the minimum wage with the slogan ‘Haath Badlega Haalat’, according a report in Economic Times.
On May 18, Kanhaiya Kumar accused Manoj Tiwari of orchestrating an ink attack on him. While no political affiliations were claimed, two of the attackers, Daksh and Annu Chaudhary, were revealed to be cow vigilantes, reported India Today TV.
According to the ‘Women and Men in Delhi- 2023’ report, published by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the unemployment rate in Delhi in 2021-22 was 5.1 percent for males and 6 percent for females, which was higher than the national average.
The Lok Sabha constituency went to polls in the sixth phase on May 25 and recorded a voter turnout of 62.9 per cent
