Manish Sisodia, Deputy CM of Delhi and education and Health minister among others are never out of the news. Recently, while he was lauded by none other than The New York Times on one hand, for revamping the education of government schools in Delhi, he is marred into controversies as revenue minister followed by CBI Raids at his residence.
Although Manish’s political career has always been a subject of talk, he has not emerged from a legacy of politics. His political career is an interesting scale through various stints-as media person, RTI activist and others till he along with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and others formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2012.
As an RTI activist, he coordinated many successful RTI campaigns in urban and rural parts of the country.
On 19 December 2006, he along with Arvind Kejriwal and Abhinandan Sekhri founded the Public Cause Research Foundation which aims at creating awareness about Indian laws like the RTI.
Sisodia had also established the Non-Government organisation ‘Kabir’ in Delhi to spread awareness about RTI and also became an active volunteer of NGO Parivartan.
Manish Sisodia conducted training, and workshops and also produced short films and documentaries on various issues related to RTI and edited a monthly magazine Apna Panna which is based on RTI awards 2010.
Sisodia played a very active role in the struggle to pass the RTI Act and played a key role in laying the foundation of the Jan Lokpal Bill Movement.
Manish Sisodia was also an active volunteer of Parivartan, a non-governmental organisation. He played a significant role in the movement against corruption and was a member of the anti-corruption movement ‘India Against Corruption led by social activist Anna Hazare in 2011. He was sent to jail with Shri Anna Hazare during the anti-graft movement.
On 26 November 2012, Arvind Kejriwal, along with Manish Sisodia and others formed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Manish also holds a membership of the Political Affairs Committee and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Aam Aadmi Party.
A newly formed party fought the 2013 elections to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. Party received massive responses from the voters and won 28 seats in the assembly while contesting for 69 seats in elections.
Manish Sisodia was elected to Delhi’s Patparganj assembly seat for the first time in the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly by defeating Nakul Bhardwaj of the BJP with a margin of 11,478 votes.
He has held various portfolios including education, public works department (PWD), urban development, local bodies, and land and building department.
In 2015, he was again elected as MLA from the Patparganj constituency of East Delhi for the second time with a margin of 28,761 defeating Vinod Kumar Binny of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Manish Sisodia was sworn in as the first deputy Chief Minister of Delhi on 14th February 2015.
In the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, he again contested from the Pratapganj seat and defeated Ravinder Singh Negi, a BJP candidate by over 3000 votes.