Former India opener Gautam Gambhir padded up to begin his new innings as a parliamentarian as he took oath as the Lok Sabha MP on Monday (June 17). Gambhir, who only retired from international and domestic cricket in December last year, began his political journey by joining the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) just days before India went to polls.
The task was cut out for Gambhir when he was thrown into the deep end as the BJP candidate to represent East Delhi. A resident of Rajinder Nagar from New Delhi constituency, East Delhi was proverbial new ‘pitch’ for Gambhir, who retired with over 10,000 international runs in all three formats.
Gambhir managed to secure close to seven lakh votes to easily defeat seasoned politician Arvinder Singh ‘Lovely’ from Congress and AAP’s Atishi Marlena, who had been credited of transforming Delhi’s health and education sector. East Delhi went to polls on May 12 and recorded a polling percentage of 55.66.
The massive victory for Gambhir was a result of the hard work that he put in with road shows and ‘nukkad sabha’ in the narrow serpentine lanes of East Delhi. Colonies like Shahadra, Gondhli, Trilokpuri, Kondli and many other places in the weeks leading up to the General Elections.
His father Deepak Gambhir is an establish businessman in New Delhi but Gambhir has always been a street-fighter when it came to cricket. He was never afraid to take on politics and officials which dominate the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA).
The poll campaign got very messy for him as well as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate in East Delhi Atishi accused BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir of having distributed pamphlets containing ‘obscene and derogatory’ remarks against her. Gautam Gambhir denied the allegations.