Arvinder Singh Lovely is an Indian politician who has been elected as an MLA from Delhi’s Gandhinagar constituency four times. In 1998, he set a record by becoming the youngest MLA of the 2nd Delhi assembly. On 31 August 2023, he was named President of the Delhi unit of Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Arvinder Singh Lovely was born on Wednesday, 11 December 1968 (age 55 years; as of 2023) in Ludhiana, Punjab. [1]Jagran His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. After completing his school education in Delhi, he pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College (SGTB), University of Delhi in 1989-90. [2]Affidavit – Arvinder Singh Lovely Lovely was pursuing a degree in law in 1993, but he decided to leave his studies midway to pursue a career in politics. In an interview, he disclosed that his family was initially against his political aspirations and arranged his marriage in an attempt to keep him away from politics.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 5″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Arvinder belongs to a Sikh family.
Parents & Siblings
His father’s name is S. Balwinder Singh. There is not much information about Arvinder’s mother and siblings.
Arvinder Singh’s parents
Wife & Children
Arvinder married Gurveen Kaur, who is a design consultant. Together the couple has two sons, Parminder Singh, and Navjot Singh.
Arvinder Singh with his mother, wife, and sons
Address
He resides at 89, East Azad Nagar, Gali No. 7, Krishna Nagar Delhi, 110051. [3]Affidavit – Arvinder Singh Lovely
Signature/Autograph
Career
Lovely was chosen to represent the Students’ Union of college and played an active role in several social and academic groups. He rose to the position of Chairman at Bhimrao Ambedkar College in Delhi. He was elected as the General Secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress in 1990 and then served as the General Secretary of the National Student Union of India (NSUI) between 1992-1996.
Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)
In 1998, Arvinder contested his first election from the Gandhinagar constituency of Delhi and won by a huge margin defeating the BJP candidate. He became the youngest Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the 2nd Delhi assembly. In 2003, he was admitted into the cabinet and appointed as the Minister of Education by the then Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit.
Arvinder Singh (extreme left) with Sheila Dikshit
Arvinder won four consecutive elections from the Gandhinagar constituency of Delhi in 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013. During his tenure, he held various portfolios including Urban Development & Revenue and Transport. From 2013 to 2015, he also served as the President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee.
Arvinder Singh after winning the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections
Lovely contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the East Delhi constituency against Gautam Gambhir (Bharatiya Janata Party) and Atishi (Aam Aadmi Party) but he lost to Gambhir by 3, 92,000 votes. In the Delhi Assembly election 2020, he stood third by getting 19.14% (21,914) votes. He lost to Anil Kumar Bajpai of BJP and Naveen Chaudhary of AAP.
Initiatives Taken
As MLA
As an MLA, he was responsible for the construction of the first metro station in East Delhi – Gandhinagar. In addition to this, he built 6 community centres, 5 schools, 2 large water tanks, and 4 hospitals while also installing sewer pipes throughout Gandhinagar. During his tenure, he initiated the construction of four bridges in various colonies including Geeta Colony, Mayur Vihar, Nizammudin, and Wazirabad. He also played a key role in the construction of the Signature Bridge, having laid the foundation stone for its construction.
As Minister of Education, Delhi
As the longest-serving education minister of Delhi, he took several initiatives aimed at improving the education system in the Union Territory. He implemented the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quota and the Laadli scheme to assist the underprivileged in accessing quality education. As a result of his efforts, the dropout rate in government schools reduced significantly, from 7.8% to 1.7%. [4]Amar Ujala
As Minister of Urban Development & Revenue
Lovely implemented the regularization of nearly 1000 colonies across Delhi and introduced the Delhi Development of Urban Village Scheme, which benefited 135 urban villages and covered 45 lakh people. He also took the initiative to develop the slums into flats and granted ownership rights to the slum dwellers.
As Minister of Transport
As Transport Minister, Lovely was solely responsible for replacing the Blue Line buses with Low Floor buses, which more than doubled the number of buses and significantly increased road safety in Delhi. He also upgraded the entire Delhi bus fleet to CNG in 6 months. Additionally, he is credited with centralizing and interlinking all transport authorities in Delhi. [5]The Hindu
Delhi Congress Chief
Arvinder Singh was appointed as the new president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) on 31 August 2023, succeeding Chaudhary Anil Kumar. He is considered to be a close ally of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was chosen to strengthen the INDIA bloc, a coalition of Congress and other parties formed to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024.
#WATCH | Arvinder Singh Lovely, newly appointed president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, says, "It is true that the performance of Congress has not been good in the last few years, but seeing the atmosphere in Delhi and the country today, people are looking towards… pic.twitter.com/eBDVMwMOkH
— ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2023
Awards
- 2001-2002 Best MLA, Delhi (Awarded by Delhi Assembly)
- Best MLA Award 2003 by Times of India & Hindustan Times (HT-CSDS Survey)
- National Award for Excellence 2009 in Urban Transport from the Union Minister of Urban Development, S. Jaipal Reddy
Arvinder Singh Lovely receiving the National Award for Excellence from the Union Minister of Urban Development, Shri S. Reddy
Car Collection
Arvinder owns a Maruti SX4 Zdi car. [6]Affidavit – Arvinder Singh Lovely
Assets & Properties
Movable Assets
- Cash: Rs. 3,10,000
- Deposits in Banks: Rs. 5,93,956
- Insurance: Rs. 7,58,492
- Jewellery: Rs. 9,77,704
- Other Assets: Rs. 50,000
Immovable Assets
- Commercial Building: Rs. 30,00,000
Note: The given estimates of movable and immovable assets are according to the year 2019. It excludes the assets owned by his wife and dependents (minor). [7]MyNeta
Net Worth
Arvinder’s net worth for the financial year 2019-20 was estimated to be Rs. 56,90,152. It excludes the net worth of his wife and dependents (minors). [8]MyNeta
Favourites
- Leader(s): Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Sheila Dikshit
- Poet: Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
Facts/Trivia
- Education Ministry was ranked as the Best-performing ministry under him by the survey conducted by Aaj Tak in 2004.
- Times of India conducted a survey about Lovely in 2008 in which he scored the highest (6.5/10) in keeping his election promises and around 77% of people said that they voted for him in previous elections.
Times of India Survey 2008 about Arvinder Singh Lovely
- In April 2017, Arvinder joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as he was upset over the ticket distribution by the Congress party in the MCD elections, but after nine months he rejoined the Congress party.
Amit Shah presenting BJP membership slip to Arvinder Singh Lovely
