New Delhi: Kapil Mishra, a firebrand Hindutva leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won by a margin of over 23,355 votes from Delhi’s Karawal Nagar Assembly constituency.
Mishra was pitted against Manoj Kumar Tyagi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). With all 24 rounds counted, he secured a total of 1,07,367 votes, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said it was a win for the (Prime Minister Narendra)“Modi model” and a loss for the “corrupt”.
Earlier, as the Delhi Assembly election results poured in, he said the “magic” of Modi’s name and work was showing its effect on the ground.
दिल्ली वालों ने “मोदी की गारंटी” पर भरोसा किया है
जिस दिन PM @narendramodi जी ने कहा कि एक बार मुझे भी दिल्ली की सेवा करने का अवसर दीजिए , उसी दिन से ज़मीन पर चुनाव पलट गया
मोदी जी के नाम और काम का जादू दिल्ली में चल रहा है
आज झूठ और लूट से दिल्ली की मुक्ति का दिन
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) February 8, 2025
Mishra was given a ticket from Karawal Nagar in place of sitting MLA Mohan Singh Bisht. The BJP leader had courted controversy over his fiery speech in 2020 that was said to have triggered the riots in northeast Delhi. He was targeted by the ruling AAP and the Congress in Delhi for his remarks.
Mishra was later given organisational responsibility in the party and was made the vice-president of Delhi BJP in 2023.
In the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, he unsuccessfully contested on a BJP ticket from Model Town. According to sources, he is one of the first few leaders who raised corruption charges against the Arvind Kejriwal government for the alleged Delhi Jal Board (DJB) “scam”. The BJP accused the body of awarding bogus tenders for upgrading its sewage treatment plants.
Prior to that, Mishra was in the AAP and a former Cabinet minister in Delhi during the Arvind Kejriwal government. He won from the Karawal Nagar in the 2015 elections.
Mishra has courted several controversies during his political tenure, from initiating the ‘desh ke gaddaron ko’ chant at a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally to leading an agitation against the Shaheen Bagh protests.
He was once inducted as water resource minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government but was removed after a falling out.
Subsequently, in 2019, he joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the Delhi Assembly elections on a BJP ticket. He is also the founder of ‘Hindu Ecosystem’—an online platform to mobilise the youth for Hindutva causes such as ‘gau raksha’, ‘ghar wapsi’, and campaign against ‘love jihad’.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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In no way can Kapil Mishra be held responsible for the riots in north-east Delhi. His “fiery” speech did not result in the riots. He never called for people to take up arms and start killing members of other religious communities. His only point was to pressurise those who had picketed and blocked an arterial road and the metro to get up from there and let normal life continue.
By branding him responsible for the riots, The Print does “un-hyphenated” journalism a great disservice.
The liberal-secular cabal has always put the blame on him – without even a shred of evidence. Now The Print has joined the gang too in insinuating that he caused those riots.
This is biased and one-sided journalism. The Print could do better.