Bandana Kumari

Bandana Kumari is an Indian politician who served as Member of Legislative Assembly for Shalimar Bagh constituency from 2013 to 2025.^[1]

Bandana Kumari
Member of Legislative Assembly
In office 8 December 2013 – 8 February 2025
Preceded by	Ravinder Nath Bansal
Succeeded by	Rekha Gupta
Constituency	Shalimar Bagh
Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly
In office 23 February 2015 – 4 June 2016
Succeeded by	Rakhi Birla
Personal details
Born	(1974-03-11) 11 March 1974 (age 50) Samastipur, Bihar
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Aam Aadmi Party
Education	Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, (B.A.)

She has served as Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly and former president of women's wing of the party, Aam Aadmi Party Mahila Shakti.^[2]

Personal life

Bandana was born on 11 March 1974 in Samastipur, Bihar in a Bhumihar Brahmin family. Her father's name is Braj Kishore Sharma.^[3] She completed her 12th standard from Ram Briksh Benipuri School, Muzaffarpur in 1991 under the BSE (state) board. Bandana further got the Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) from B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzzaffarpur in 1994. Her husband's name is Sajjan Kumar. Both of them were self-employed as per 2013 affidavit.^[4] She is presently a housewife ^[5] and a social worker. She is a resident of Shalimar Bagh, Delhi with her husband and son.^[3][6]

Politics

In the assembly elections of December 2013, Bandana Kumari was elected as an MLA from the Shalimar Bagh constituency in Delhi, defeated three-time sitting MLA, Ravinder Nath Bansal of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) by a margin of 10,651 votes; she secured 47,235 votes. She was instantly hailed as a "giant killer". Bandana's victory was considered a shocking defeat for the BJP as the constituency was traditionally considered to be a stronghold of the party. The constituency was with the BJP since 1993. Shalimar Bagh was also the constituency of BJP's chief minister Sahib Singh Verma in 1993 and Bansal had held the seat for 15 years.^[7][8][9]

Bandana became President of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Mahila Shakti, the AAP's women's wing. She raised issues of women's safety in the city. The AAP's women's wing and Youth wing started 22 Gramin Sewa vehicles for females and senior citizens from Delhi metro stations in December 2014 to address Women's safety and woo women voters.^[2] Bandana was renominated for Shalimar Bagh in the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections. She fought the election on issues of women's safety and corruption.^[9][10]

Bandana won over BJP's Rekha Gupta, the Standing Committee Deputy Chairman New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), by a victory margin of 10,978 votes. She also got higher votes (62,656) than 2013 elections.^[11][12][13]

The AAP won 67 of the 70 seats in Delhi. It announced on 12 February 2015 that Bandana Kumari would be its nominee for the deputy Speaker of the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi.^[14] On 23 February, she was formally elected as deputy Speaker; while Ram Niwas Goel became the speaker.^[15]

Electoral performance

This section is transcluded from Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency. (edit | history)

Delhi Assembly elections, 2025: Shalimar Bagh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	Rekha Gupta	68,200	59.95	13.49
	AAP	Bandana Kumari	38,605	33.93	15.48
	INC	Praveen Jain	4,892	4.30	2.17
	NOTA	None of the above	770	0.68	0.05
Majority			29,595	26.02	23.07
Turnout			1,12,994	58.6
	BJP gain from AAP		Swing

Delhi Assembly elections, 2020: Shalimar Bagh^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	AAP	Bandana Kumari	57,707	49.41	−2.73
	BJP	Rekha Gupta	54,267	46.46	+3.45
	INC	J. S. Nayol	2,491	2.13	−0.53
	NOTA	None of the above	735	0.63	+0.11
Majority			3,440	2.95	−6.18
Turnout			1,17,030	61.80	−7.09
	AAP hold		Swing	-2.73

Delhi Assembly elections, 2015: Shalimar Bagh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	AAP	Bandana Kumari	62,656	52.14	+8.13
	BJP	Rekha Gupta	51,678	43.01	+8.92
	INC	Sulekh Aggarwal	3,200	2.66	−11.93
	BSP	Lalit Kumar Gautam	892	0.74	−1.74
	NOTA	None	627	0.52	−0.34
Majority			10,978	9.14	−0.78
Turnout			1,20,173	68.90
	AAP hold		Swing	+8.13

Delhi Assembly elections, 2013: Shalimar Bagh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	AAP	Bandana Kumari	47,235	44.01
	BJP	Ravinder Nath Bansal	36,584	34.09	−23.54
	INC	Naresh Kumar Gupta	15,659	14.59	−20.06
	IND	G. L. Khanna	3,751	3.50
	BSP	Raj Kumar	2,664	2.48	−3.40
	NOTA	None of the Above	922	0.86
Majority			10,651	9.92
Turnout			107,342	66.62	+8.03
	AAP gain from BJP		Swing

References

1. "Shalimar Bagh election results 2025 highlights: BJP's Rekha Gupta breaks AAP's winning streak". The Times of India. 8 February 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
2. "Bandana Kumari flags off 22 Gramin Sewa vehicles for women". I am in DNAOf North East Delhi. 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
3. "Profile". Delhi Assembly official site. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
4. "2013 election affidavit" (PDF). docs2.myneta.info. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
5. PTI (3 January 2015). "AAP names 8 more nominees, completes list for Delhi Assembly elections". CNN IBN. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
6. "Shalimar Bagh: Results". NDTV. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
7. "Assembly polls 2013: No Modi magic in few of the Delhi seats; BJP blame infighting, casual attitude". The Economic Times. 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
8. Indrani Basu (10 February 2015). "6 Women Candidates Who Won Delhi Elections". The Huffington Post India. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
9. "There is no Modi wave in the city". Deccan herald. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
10. "Only six women make it to Delhi assembly". India Today. 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
11. "Election Result". ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
12. Assembly Elections 2015 Results, Election Commission of India Archived 2015-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
13. "Delhi polls: AAP's broom sweeps away BJP mayors, councillors". The Economic Times. 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
14. Neha Lalchandani (12 February 2015). "Manish Sisodia to be deputy CM of Delhi". Times of India. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
15. "Ram Niwas Goel is new Speaker, Bandana Kumari his deputy". The Asian Age. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
16. "Statistical Report on General Election, 2020 to the Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 28 October 2021.

State Legislative Assembly
Preceded by ?	Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly from Shalimar Bagh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) 2020–	Incumbent