BJP MP Manoj Tiwari
Credit: PTI Photo
Political Party: BJP
Parliamentary Constituency: North East Delhi
For the longest time, the politics of Delhi, which prided itself as the home to many communities, was dominated by Punjabis. But when the BJP decided to bring in a Bhojpuri star – Manoj Tiwari – to be its face in the Capital, it signaled a change.
The Purvanchalis, or migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, were now making their presence felt. Tiwari, one of the earliest and yet, most sustaining stars of Bhojpuri cinema, started his political career from Gorakhpur in 2009.
He contested against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on a Samajwadi ticket, but lost. He got 83,000 votes, behind Yogi Adityanath’s 4 lakh votes and BSP’s Vinay Shankar Tiwari who bagged 1.82 lakh votes.
By the next term, Tiwari had joined the BJP and won his first Lok Sabha election – from the Northeast Delhi seat defeating Aam Aadmi Party’s Anand Kumar by a margin of 1.44 lakh votes.
In 2019, his win margin was over 3.44 lakh against Sheila Dikshit. Today, Tiwari is the only one among seven seats in Delhi who has managed to retain his ticket.