Ready to fulfil responsibility of third term in Lok Sabha, says BJP’s North East Delhi candidate Manoj Tiwari

Manoj Tiwari, the only incumbent contesting the general election in Delhi, is hoping to score a hat-trick and be elected to the Lok Sabha this year again.

Manoj Tiwari, the only incumbent contesting the general election in Delhi, is hoping to score a hat-trick and be elected to the Lok Sabha this year again. A man who wears many hats, including that of singer, actor and politician, the BJP leader says he has done enough in his previous two terms as MP to win by a comfortable margin.

Mr. Tiwari maintains that the “Modi wave” is powering another victory for the BJP at the Centre. Proud that the Prime Minister held his first rally in the Capital in his constituency of North East Delhi on May 18, he says, “It is a bigger responsibility to be nominated for the third time, but I am ready to fulfil my duty.”

Mr. Tiwari’s Purvanchali identity is perhaps a big factor behind his renomination from North East Delhi, which is home to a high number of migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Known to appeal to voters’ sentiments on the campaign trail by singing Bhojpuri songs, the BJP leader’s vote share has only climbed in the previous two times he has contested from the seat.

In 2021, he grabbed headlines for defying the Delhi Disaster Management Authority order prohibiting Chhat Puja celebrations on the banks of the Yamuna by offering prayers on the riverbank at Sonia Vihar. Insisting on celebrating the Purvanchali festival, he asked the authorities to clean the Yamuna instead of banning festivities.

His “superstar” status has also bolstered his spot on the BJP’s star campaigner list across northern India, with the leader holding multiple rallies in U.P., Bihar, Uttarakhand, Assam, West Bengal, and Maharashtra ahead of the election.

Born in Atarwalia, a small village in Bihar bordering Uttar Pradesh, the 53-year-old entered politics in 2009 after enjoying a decade-long career in acting and singing, with over 4,000 Bhojpuri and Hindi songs and 75 Bhojpuri films under his belt. After contesting from Gorakhpur on a Samajwadi Party ticket and losing to the now-U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mr. Tiwari switched over to the BJP, where he was nominated and elected to Parliament from North East Delhi in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. He also enjoyed a stint as the Delhi BJP president from 2015 to 2020.

In 2019, he went head-to-head with senior Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, and defeated her with a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes. But Mr. Tiwari said he paid her a visit after the election, where he took her blessings for the future. “While party lines may have divided us, it is possible for political rivals to share friendly and harmonious relations,” he says.