Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Bharatiya Janata Party, Delhi State 19 December 2003-7 January 2009

Dr. Harsh Vardhan was born on 13 December 1954 in Delhi to Om Prakash Goyal and Snehlata Devi. He received his schooling from Anglo Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary School, Daryaganj. He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, Kanpur, and also earned Master of Surgery in ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) from the same college.

Harsh Vardhan has been a member of the nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood. He was elected from Krishna Nagar Assembly constituency in 1993 on Bharatiya Janata Party ticket and became a member of the first Legislative Assembly of Delhi. He was appointed Law and Health Minister in the Delhi Government. He became Education Minister in 1996. During his tenure in the state health ministry, he launched the polio eradication scheme in October 1994. The program was successful and was then adopted by the Government of India across the country.

Harsh Vardhan was re-elected to the Assembly from Krishna Nagar in 1998 and 2003. In the 2008 Assembly elections, he defeated his main rival, Congress councilor Deepika Khullar, by 3,204 votes and won the Assembly for the fourth time. Thus, Harsh Vardhan has never been defeated in the history of Assembly elections. He is considered an experienced and respected member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

On 23 October 2013, he was declared the Chief Ministerial candidate of the state for the Delhi Assembly elections. In the 2013 Delhi State Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party under his leadership fielded its candidates on a total of 66 seats, out of which 31 were victorious.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan was elected to the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha from Chandni Chowk, and has also served the country as Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Minister of Science and Technology in the Government of India.