Raghav Chadha

Raghav Chadha
Chadha in 2020
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 May 2022
Preceded by	Naresh Gujral
Constituency	Punjab
Member of Delhi Legislative Assembly
In office 12 February 2020 – 24 March 2022
Preceded by	Vijender Garg Vijay
Succeeded by	Durgesh Pathak
Constituency	Rajinder Nagar
Vice Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board
In office 2 March 2020[1][2] – 22 March 2022
Preceded by	Dinesh Mohaniya
Succeeded by	Saurabh Bharadwaj
Personal details
Born	(1987-11-11) 11 November 1987 (age 37) Delhi, India
Political party	Aam Aadmi Party
Spouse	Parineeti Chopra ​ (m. 2023)​ [3]
Alma mater	University of Delhi Institute of Chartered Accountants of India London School of Economics[4]
Known for	Spokesperson of AAP[5][6]
Website	www.raghavchadha.in

Raghav Chadha (born 11 November 1987) is an Indian politician and a member of the Aam Aadmi Party. He is the youngest Rajya Sabha MP from the Punjab constituency.^[7][8] He was the former Vice Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board and MLA from the Rajendra Nagar assembly constituency in the 7th Delhi Assembly till 2022.^[9] Chadha has been elected as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.^[10] He is also a practising chartered accountant.^[11]

Born on 11 November 1987 and raised in New Delhi, Chadha received his school education from the capital city's Modern School, Barakhamba Road and graduated from University of Delhi (DU). He then pursued Chartered Accountancy from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. In his early career he worked with accountancy firms including Deloitte, and Grant Thornton.^[11]

Chadha has been a part of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since its inception.^[12] Arvind Kejriwal encouraged him in drafting the Delhi Lokpal Bill in 2012, which was also his first political task.^[13] He established himself as the AAP's TV face and also became the youngest national spokesperson of the AAP and one of the youngest across parties.^[14]

When AAP won the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly election with a majority, Chadha, at the age of 26 was appointed AAP's national treasurer. In April 2018, the then Union Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, terminated his appointment as an advisor to Manish Sisodia along with 9 other advisors.^[15]

In 2019, Chadha contested from the South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He lost in the elections to the BJP candidate, Ramesh Bidhuri.^[16][17] Since the 1980s, South Delhi has been a BJP stronghold and represented by stalwarts like Madan Lal Khurana, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Sushma Swaraj and Ramesh Bidhuri as well as Balraj Madhok of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the ideological and political predecessor of BJP.^[18]

In 2020, as a leader of AAP, Chadha was appointed AAP Punjab co-in-charge for the Punjab Legislative Assembly election in 2022, playing a crucial role in the party's eventual landslide victory, where AAP won 92 out of 117 seats.^[19][20]

In February 2020, Chadha contested from Rajendra Nagar in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election and won against BJP's candidate RP Singh with a margin of 20,058 votes. He polled a massive 57.06% of the total votes.^[21] Following the elections, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and where he focused on providing clean, 24x7 piped water supply and cleaning the Yamuna River, significantly improving Delhi's water management systems.

On 21 March 2022, it was announced that Chadha along with four others were nominated by AAP for the post of Rajya Sabha members from Punjab for a six-year term starting 2022.^[22] No opposition candidate opposed their election.^[23] This made him the youngest Indian Rajya Sabha MP ever at the age of 33. He was also appointed as a Member of the Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance in Rajya Sabha. The committee oversees the laws and policies drafted by three union ministries and the NITI Aayog.^[24]

In April 2022, Chadha said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) settled Bangladeshi people and Rohingyas in Delhi and uses them to cause riots.^[25]

Credited with the party's success in Punjab, on 18 September 2022, Chadha was appointed co-in-charge for the 2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election.^[26] He is appointed as a leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Rajya Sabha.^[27]

In the wake of Sanjay Singh, the Floor Leader of the AAP in the Rajya Sabha, being unable to discharge his responsibilities while in judicial custody, the party leader and Delhi CM Kejriwal, had requested the chairman of Rajya Sabha to appoint Chadha as AAP's interim Leader of the House in early December 2023. However, the request was turned down, as the request reportedly was not in conformity with the applicable legal regime governed by The Leaders and Chief Whips of Recognised Parties and Groups in Parliament (Facilities) Act, 1998 and the Rules made thereunder.^[28]

After AAP's victory in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appointed Chadha as the Chairman of an Advisory Panel. A plea challenging his appointment was struck down by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.^[29]

2019 Indian general elections: South Delhi

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	Ramesh Bidhuri	687,014	56.58	11.41
	AAP	Raghav Chadha	3,19,971	26.35	9.12
	INC	Vijender Singh	1,64,613	13.56	2.20
	NOTA	None of the Above	5,264	0.43	0.07
Majority			3,67,043	30.23	20.53
Turnout			12,14,545	58.75	4.22
	BJP hold		Swing	11.41

Chadha engaged actress Parineeti Chopra, on 13 May 2023 at Kapurthala House in New Delhi.^[30] Chadha married Chopra on 24 September 2023 at The Leela Palace, Udaipur, Rajasthan in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony.^[31][32] Chadha has been in London to undergo a vitrectomy surgery. When asked about his long absence, his party colleague Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that he could have lost eyesight if not for timely operation.^[33]

On 8 August 2023, five MPs claimed that their names were mentioned on the proposal to send the Delhi NCR Amendment Bill to the Select Committee without their consent, by a motion moved by Raghav Chadha. They accused Chadha of forgery and breach of privilege.^[34][35] On 11 August, Chadha was suspended from the Rajya Sabha, for "Gross Violation Of Rules".^[36]

• "Raghav Chadha's decade in politics: From volunteer at anti-corruption movement to youngest Rajya Sabha member". The Indian Express. 24 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.