From top cricketer to Delhi IIT professor, here is all you need to know about AAP's 5 Rajya Sabha candidates from Punjab

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 21

The Aam Aadmi Party has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, IIT Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora for the March 31 Rajya Sabha polls.

All the five party nominees filed their nomination papers at the Punjab Vidhan Sabha complex here.

Below are the details of the AAP’s RS nominees from Punjab:

1. Ashok K Mittal

Ashok K Mittal is an academic reformer, social activist and philanthropist, and is the founder chancellor of the Lovely Professional University. Hailing from a humble background, Mittal worked his way up to become an accomplished automotive entrepreneur. He founded LPU which is one of the largest universities in India today with students from over 50 countries and is recognized amongst the top universities of the world. Under Mittal’s leadership, LPU secured the third rank amongst all private universities in India in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA).

“Mittal’s professional experience and service to the people of Punjab make him one of the most accomplished individuals in the state,” AAP said.

2. Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh is India's most successful off-spin bowler who played for the Indian national cricket team between 1998 and 2016. Singh was captain of the Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians and captained Punjab for the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy season. Under his captaincy, Mumbai won the 2011 Champions League Twenty20. An Arjuna and Padma Shri awardee, Singh has been actively working for the upliftment of disadvantaged children through the Smile Train Foundation and Tera Tera Foundation. Singh has been engaged in various social welfare activities and served the people during the difficult years of the Covid -19 pandemic.

3. Raghav Chadha

A loyal soldier and trusted aide of AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha was appointed as the youngest spokesperson of the party and has executed crucial party campaigns in Delhi and Punjab. Chadha spearheaded the critical water reforms as Delhi Jal Board Vice-Chairman and is one of the architects of the party’s resounding victory in Punjab. A graduate from the London School of Economics, Chadha met Arvind Kejriwal in 2012, who urged him to get involved in the drafting of the Delhi Lokpal Bill as his first task. In the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections, Chadha registered an emphatic victory as the party’s candidate from Rajinder Nagar Assembly Constituency. Chadha was appointed as the Chairperson of the Delhi Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee.

4. Sandeep Pathak

Touted as Aam Aadmi Party’s Chanakya responsible for the party’s spectacular win in Punjab elections in 2022, Sandeep Pathak is an ​​IIT-Delhi Associate Professor who joined the party to realize Arvind Kejriwal’s dream of a corruption-free India. Pathak received his Ph.D. from the University Of Cambridge, U.K. in 2011. He has been working behind the scenes for many years and built the entire organization cadre in Punjab. He was the man behind conducting accurate and scientific surveys in the state, selection of candidates, and deciding the entire strategy for the party’s resounding victory in Punjab.

5. Sanjeev Arora

An accomplished businessman running ​​a successful export house in Ludhiana, Sanjeev Arora runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust that was established after his parents lost their lives to cancer. The trust has been serving the people of Punjab for over 15 years, and more than 160 cancer patients have been treated free of cost. Sanjeev Arora is also on the governing board of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, and is member of the Apex Council of Punjab Cricket Association. Arora has been the Secretary of Sutlej Club, Ludhiana a prime institution of Punjab that provided ample help to the Ludhiana District Administration by donating ambulances, PPE Kits, and other essentials.

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