Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi is set to make a return to the Rajya Sabha. He has been nominated by his party for the Rajya Sabha bypoll from Telangana. The Telangana bypoll was triggered by the resignation of K Keshava Rao from the upper house. Rao had left the Congress in 2013 to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharat Rashtra Samithi). But he returned to Congress in July, following its decisive win in Telangana.
In a post on X on Thursday, Singhvi wrote, “Rejection of only other independent nomination in Telangana Rajya Sabha, means election certificate on 27/8. Proud 2 represent youngest state with ancient culture & heritage. Remarkable youth dynamism &bursting entrepreneurship. Promise 2 b its voice in parliament & country.”
Earlier this year, Singhvi was fielded by the Congress for a Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh. However, he lost the election to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan due to cross-voting by some disgruntled Congress MLAs.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi: The Lawyer-Congressman
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi has been the go-to counsel for the opposition and their leaders. He has represented the AAP’s Delhi government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, veteran politician Sharad Pawar, the NCP, and Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal government, as well as several TMC leaders in the Supreme Court.
Singhvi is often described as a legal all-rounder, excelling in criminal, constitutional, administrative, corporate, and commercial law. His versatility has made him one of the most sought-after lawyers.
Supreme Court Justice BR Gavai recently praised Singhvi, noting, “Everyone should learn from Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi how to be in all courts at the exact right time.” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta added to that, “Dr Singhvi never takes vacations also. Mehta even joked, “I’ve been requesting him to take me as an intern for 3 months so that I could also learn.” To this Singhvi quipped, “I may not induct an overqualified intern!”
Singhvi secured interim bail for Kejriwal by persuading the Supreme Court that it was a suitable case for such relief. Despite the Delhi High Court rejecting Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest, Singhvi’s strategic approach focused on the timing of the arrest and the gap between the case registration and the arrest, which shifted the burden of justification onto the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Instead of arguing for bail, Singhvi contested the validity of the arrest itself, forcing the ED to prove the legitimacy of its actions.
Singhvi had also appeared for Sanjay Singh when the top court granted him bail. He has consistently defended the AAP government in its numerous legal disputes with the Centre.
Following the split within the Sharad Pawar-led NCP by his nephew Ajit, the Election Commission recognised Ajit’s faction as the real NCP, also awarding it the party symbol of clock. Singhvi then convinced the Supreme Court to direct the EC to recognise Pawar Senior’s faction as “NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar”. Ajit and his faction were barred from using Sharad Pawar’s name and image in their electoral campaigns and were required to inform voters that the ‘clock’ symbol issue was under judicial review.
Singhvi’s legal acumen was on full display in cases, including the Sabarimala case where he argued against women’s rights to worship at the temple and the “Modi surname” case, where the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction. He has got bail for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald-Young Indian case.
In 2014, Abhishek Manu Singhvi faced a rare defeat when the Delhi High Court allowed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to audit telecom companies. Singhvi had argued against it. At the time, Singhvi had been at the forefront of key telecom issues, including CDMA and GSM technology arguments, revenue share disputes, one-time spectrum charges, the Vodafone tax case, and the 2G scam, often representing major private telecom companies.
Singhvi’s involvement in these high-profile telecom cases frequently put him at odds with his own government, led by his political party. “The legal profession is different from my political career. A practitioner of law should be able to argue on any side that appoints him, irrespective of the lawyer’s personal stance or leanings,” he said.
Interestingly, he was defended by BJP’s Piyush Goyal, who stated, “There is no reason to point a finger at Mr Singhvi if he represents against the government. He is an officer of the Court and he has to argue for whoever appoints him.”
Born on February 24, 1959, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, Singhvi completed his schooling at St Columba’s in Delhi and his bachelor’s degree in Economics from St Stephen’s College. He earned his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge, and did a course in Public International Law (PIL) from Harvard University.
Singhvi’s influential career in telecom litigation began at the age of 34 when he became the youngest lawyer to be designated as senior counsel. His journey started with the Delhi Science Forum’s challenge against the privatisation of mobile telephony, where he represented what would later be known as the GSM lobby.
Singhvi’s headline-grabbing cases often accompany fat cheques. “His fees sometimes border on extortion, but the results of his cases are seldom undesired,” a junior lawyer had once said. However, his career has seen its share of controversies. In 2012, he resigned as Congress spokesperson and from the parliamentary panel following a scandal involving a sex CD.
While Singhvi says he has selectively chosen which cases to pursue, avoiding those that conflicted with his political role, he has faced internal challenges within the Congress. Singhvi attributes the sex scandal to such dynamics.
His former driver allegedly recorded a video of him in a compromising situation with a woman, supposedly in exchange for helping her professionally, and then circulated the footage. In an out-of-court settlement, the driver admitted to allegedly digitally altering the video and leaking it.
