Sahiram Pahalwan: AAP MLA To Consolidate Gurjjar Community Votes (image: twitter.com/SahiramPahalwan)

Sahiram Pahalwan is a senior AAP member and will be representing the party in South Delhi in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He is a two-time legislator from New Delhi”s Tughlakabad Assembly segment. Sahiram Pahalwan belongs to the Bidhuri clan of the Gurjjar community.

In the inner circles of the AAP, Sahiram Pahalwan is considered a strongman and influential political player. Formerly associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Pahalwan had shifted his allegiance to the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit just days ahead of the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections. At the time, despite Pahalwan”s winnability quotient, his candidature was protested by party members, especially then member of AAP’s Political Action Committee (PAC) Prashant Bhushan. Overriding party members” objections, AAP leadership moved forward with Sahiram Pahalwan”s candidature since he holds strong appeal among the Gurjjar community.

In 2015, he won the Tughlakabad Assembly seat by defeating Vikram Bidhuri of the BJP by a margin of 33,701 votes. During the 2020 Assembly elections, Sahiram Pahalwan again defeated Vikram Bidhuri, and the margin was 13,000 votes, constituting 54 percent of the vote. In 2013, he was elected as Deputy Mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation under the BSP ticket. By a margin of 11 votes, Pahalwan defeated Parveen Rana of the Congress. In 2007 and 2012, he was elected as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Councillor as well.

In 2016, Sahiram Pahalwan was booked by Delhi Police for scuffles and threatening a youth. Delhi Court, avoiding jail term, imposed a fine of Rs. 6 lakh on AAP MLA and two co-convicts for the assault case.

South Delhi is one of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in New Delhi. BJP”s Ramesh Bidhuri is representing the parliamentary constituency since 2014.