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Somnath Bharti

About Somnath Bharti

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Who is Somnath Bharti

A lawyer and politician, Somnath Bharti is affiliated to an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member who has won back-to-back elections from the Malaviya Nagar constituency in South Delhi. After winning the 2013 Delhi Assembly election, Bharti was appointed the minister for law, administrative reforms, and art & culture in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government that lasted only 49 days.
 
When an Assembly election was next held in 2015, Bharti and won from the Malviya Nagar seat with a bigger mandate than in 2013, while his party swept the election, winning 67 of the 70 seats.
 
Born in Bihar’s Nawada in 1974 to Sitaram Bharti and Manorama Rani, Bharti has practised in both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court as a lawyer. After completing his early education from Bihar, Bharti did an MSc from IIT Delhi in 1997 and followed it up with an LLB degree from the Delhi University (DU).
 
He practised civil and criminal law after graduating from DU but the majority of his professional career revolved around public issues, which he pursued through public interest litigation (PIL). He also formed a law firm, Bharti & Associates (Advocates and Corporate Lawyers).
 
Bharti had been active as a social activist even before he entered active politics. In 2012, he campaigned against the then Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal for interfering in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) admission process. He became an active member of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and later joined the AAP as one of its founding members.
 
Somnath Bharti’s controversies
 
Even as Bharti has won twice from the same constituency, his run as a lawmaker has not been without controversies. From allegations of domestic abuse to vigilantism, Bharti has been at the centre of many rows. The first major controversy erupted when some residents of Khirki Extension in his constituency accused Bharti of vigilantism and trespass. He had apparently ordered the Delhi Police to raid a house following complaints of alleged prostitution and drug racket. When the police refused to barge in over lack of a warrant, people alleged that Bharti, along with a group of people, caught four women and forced them to undergo medical tests. The tests, conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), however, did not find any drug traces in their system.
 
In September 2015, Bharti was arrested on charges of domestic abuse levelled by his wife, who alleged Bharti beat her. The Delhi High Court in May 2019 cleared Bharti of charges of domestic violence.
 
Delhi Assembly election 2020
 
In the 2020 Delhi election, the AAP has again fielded Somnath Bharti from Malviya Nagar, a seat he won in 2015 with a vote share of 54.99 per cent against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Dr Nandani Sharma (37.91 per cent) and Congress heavyweight Yoganand Shasti (5.97 per cent). This time, Bharti is pitted against the BJP’s Shailendra Singh Monty and the Congress’ Neetu Verma.
 

Latest Updates on Somnath Bharti

On April 10 last year, it issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and imposed an interim stay on the proceedings on a plea filed by Bharti seeking the transfer of the case

Updated On: 15 Oct 2024 | 1:50 PM IST

Justice Manmeet PS Arora said at the outset that there were a lot of typographical errors which made it difficult to understand the averments in the petition

Updated On: 22 Jul 2024 | 12:54 PM IST

Bharti also hit out at Sitharaman saying if the BJP government had worked at the Centre, she would not need to rake up his family matter to hurt his wife and children

Updated On: 19 May 2024 | 7:16 AM IST

In an interview with PTI, he said that since maintenance work happens every day and DJB contractors have gone on strike due to non-payment of dues, the work of the jal board has been "suffering"

Updated On: 08 Dec 2023 | 9:28 AM IST

Bharti, a former Delhi law minister, is a legislator from the Malviya Nagar constituency. He was first elected from the seat in 2013

Updated On: 10 Mar 2023 | 8:19 PM IST

Senior AAP leader Somnath Bharti alleged that Delhi University has not yet approved the nomination of candidates recommended by the city dispensation for governing bodies in government-funded colleges

Updated On: 07 Mar 2023 | 10:57 PM IST

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court

Updated On: 24 Mar 2021 | 2:46 PM IST

A Delhi court Tuesday upheld an order sentencing AAP MLA Somnath Bharti to two years in jail for assaulting the AIIMS security staff in a case registered in 2016.

Updated On: 23 Mar 2021 | 6:58 PM IST

A sessions court in Delhi has suspended a magistrate court order convicting AAP MLA Somnath Bharti

Updated On: 28 Jan 2021 | 11:26 PM IST

The court has acquitted four other persons accused in the same matter

Updated On: 23 Jan 2021 | 11:49 AM IST

A special court here on Friday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti in one of the two cases lodged against him

Updated On: 15 Jan 2021 | 6:34 PM IST

He was remanded to 14 days in judicial custody at Amhat jail in Sultanpur district

Updated On: 11 Jan 2021 | 9:49 PM IST

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath over the throwing of ink at AAP MLA Somnath Bharti in Uttar Pradesh.

Updated On: 11 Jan 2021 | 9:16 PM IST

The court also noted that the woman has no objection if the FIR is quashed

Updated On: 07 May 2019 | 1:49 PM IST

Bharti was accused of AIIMS boundary wall dispute case

Updated On: 22 Sep 2016 | 9:00 PM IST

The Delhi Police had registered an FIR against the AAP leader and his supporters on September 11 following a complaint by the institution's Chief Security Officer R.S. Rawat

Updated On: 22 Sep 2016 | 2:59 PM IST

He said that the honest politics of the AAP is making the BJP restless

Updated On: 12 Sep 2016 | 12:01 PM IST

Bharti had been chargesheeted for attempting to kill his wife Lipika Mitra and inflicting cruelty on her in a domestic violence case

Updated On: 20 Jul 2016 | 11:54 AM IST