Alka Lamba

Alka Lamba (born 21 September 1975) is an Indian politician.[1] After serving the Indian National Congress in various capacities for more than 20 years, she quit to join the Aam Aadmi Party on 26 December 2014.[2] In February 2015, Lamba was elected to the Delhi Legislative Assembly from Chandni Chowk. She quit AAP in September 2019 citing disrespect for her within the party. On 6 September 2019, she formally returned to the Congress party.[3] She was however disqualified from the Delhi assembly by Delhi speaker for violating the rules for party change over in a gesture of strong warning to tainted turncoats.[4]

Alka Lamba
Lamba in July 20
National President
National Students' Union of India
In office
1997–1999
Preceded bySaleem Ahmed
Succeeded byMeenakshi Natarajan
Personal details
BornNew Delhi, India
Political partyIndian National Congress (6 September 2019 till present)
Other political
affiliations		Aam Aadmi Party (December 2014 to September 2019)

Lamba began her career as a student leader, and is former President of Delhi University Students' Union, former National President of National Students' Union of India, former General Secretary of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and former Secretary of All India Congress Committee. She is Chairperson of the NGO Go India Foundation.[5][6]

Political career

Lamba was only 19 years old when she began her political career in 1994 as a second year B.Sc. student. She joined the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party and was promptly given the responsibility of being Delhi State Girl Convener. After one year in 1995, she contested the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) election for the post of President and won by a huge margin. In 1996, she worked as All India Girl Convener for NSUI, and in 1997 she was appointed as the President of all India (NSUI).[7][8]

In 2002, she was appointed as the General Secretary of All India Mahila Congress. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contested Delhi Assembly elections from Moti Nagar Constituency against the senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana. In 2006 she became a member of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and was appointed as General Secretary of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC). At the same time she was also appointed as Vice Chairperson of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD), an autonomous body of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.[7] She was a Secretary All India Congress Committee (AICC) at the Indian National Congress from 2007 to 2011.[9][10][11] She left Indian National Congress in December 2014 to join Aam Aadmi Party.[12] In February 2015, Lamba contested in Delhi Legislative Assembly election from Chandni Chowk constituency on Aam Aadmi Party's ticket. She defeated her nearest rival, Suman Kumar Gupta of Bharatiya Janata Party, by a margin of 18,287 votes.[13]

Lamba has visited the UK, Russia, the US, China, and Venezuela to attend seminars and give speeches about women's empowerment, human rights and sustainable development in third world nations. In 2005, she visited Venezuela to attend the World Festival of Youth and Students. In 2006, she visited the US to attend a conference on international women's leadership programs. In 2007 and 2008, she visited London to attend the UN's International Widows Day and tourism and cultural festival. In 2008–2009, Lamba visited Nepal to attend a seminar on disaster management programs. In 2010, Lamba travelled across Brunei, Singapore, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Maldives with the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay.[7][11]

Controversies

In August 2015, a few months after she had been elected MLA for the Chandni Chowk constituency, Lamba was charged with vandalism and destruction of property in an incident which occurred within her own constituency. On 10 August 2015, a mob armed with lathis, swagger sticks and cricket bats attacked and badly vandalized a liquor shop located in the Kashmere Gate area of old Delhi. CCTV footage recorded shows Lamba leading the attack and vandalising the shop along with her supporters.[14] The footage shows her reaching straight for the shop counter and violently pushing and spilling and throwing away the items on the counter. Following this, her supporters also vandalised the shop.[14] According to reports, this happened because the shopkeeper was a BJP supporter and had objected to the AAP defacing his shop windows with posters eulogising Lamba and her party.

Representing National Commission for Women on 16 July 2012, as one of the member of the enquiry team of 2012 Guwahati molestation case, Lamba met the victim of a Guwahati molestation case, held a press-conference and revealed the victim's identity. The 'tip-off' made local media houses work overtime to find the victim's real identity. Some TV channels interviewed the victim's neighbours to come to the conclusion that the girl's name was not what she was forced to say by the channel that recorded her molestation and near-stripping. Such acts of Lamba's were widely criticised. Following this, she was removed from the fact-finding committee of NCW.[15][16]

Social work

A non-governmental organisation named Go India Foundation ran by Alka Lamba got attention in 2010 during its blood donation campaigning. Significantly, over 65000 people donated blood in one day.[15] The campaign was promoted by Salman Khan.[17]

Elections contested

Delhi Legislative Assembly
Year Constituency Party Result Vote percentage Opposition Candidate Opposition Party Opposition vote percentage Ref
2003Moti NagarINCLost36.20%Madan Lal KhuranaBJP61.35%
2015Chandni ChowkAAPWon49.35%Suman Kumar GuptaBJP24.79%
2020Chandni ChowkINCLost5.03%Parlad Singh SawhneyAAP65.92%

References
  1. "Chandni Chowk redevelopment plan draws conflicting views". The Pioneer.
  2. "Alka Lamba, former student leader, quits Congress to join AAP".
  3. "Alka Lamba returns to Congress fold: Leaving 'Khas Aadmi Party'". Express News Service. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020 – via The Indian Express.
  4. "Delhi Speaker disqualifies Alka Lamba from the legislative assembly". www.aninews.in. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  5. "Indian national overseas congress pays tribute to Alka Lamba senior leader, India congress committee". triblocal.com. 9 November 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  6. Alka Lamba: Youth on her side. The Times of India. 19 November 2003. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  7. "Go India Foundation – Our Chairperson: Alka Lamba". Go India Foundation. 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  8. "The valuable PM : COLUMN: OFF THE RECORD, News – India Today". India Today. 4 November 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  9. "It's youth Congress: Rahul is AICC general secretary – Indian Express Mobile". The Indian Express. 25 September 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  10. "Moily dropped in AICC rejig – Financial Express Mobile". The Financial Express. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  11. "Indian Youth Congress: Alka Lamba". Indian Youth Congress. 2012. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  12. "Congress Leader Alka Lamba to join AAP on December 29. She contested from the chandni chowk seat and won in 2014 Delhi Legislative election". Biharprabha News. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  13. "Arvind Kejriwal defeats BJP's Nupur Sharma by over 31,000 votes". Livemint. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  14. "New twist in Alka Lamba issue: CCTV footage shows AAP MLA vandalised shop with supporters". 9 August 2015.
  15. "Alka Lamba hogs limelight from Guwahati molestation case – News Oneindia". Oneindia.in. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  16. Guwahati molestation case: Chief Minister's office accidentally names victim, then retracts. NDTV.com (17 July 2012). Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  17. "Salman Khan extends support to blood donation camp – Indian Express". The Indian Express. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
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