Sushil Kumar Rinku

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sushil Kumar Rinku

• Sushil Kumar Rinku hails from a family of politicians. His family has been associated with the Indian National Congress for more than 45 years.

• Sushil’s father and uncle had served the party in various capacities. His father, Ram Lal was elected as the councillor of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation twice, first in 1997, and then in 2002.

• His wife was elected as a councillor of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation in 2007.

• Sushil Kumar Rinku became active in student politics during his school days by joining the Congress’ student wing NSUI.

  

• In 1994, he was elected as the president of Shri Guru Ravidass Cultural Society of the DAV College, Jalandhar, while he was studying there.

• He joined the Indian National Congress during the 1992 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections, doing booth work for the party.

• During the 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections, he defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mahinder Pal Bhagat, son of three-time MLA and former minister Bhagat Chuni Lal, by a margin of 17334 votes from the Jalandhar West (SC) constituency.

  

• In 2023, he was expelled from the Indian National Congress over alleged anti-party activities.

• He then joined the Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Jalandhar.

  

• In 2023, he wanted a ticket for the Jalandhar parliamentary by-election for his brother, but the ticket was offered to him instead by the Aam Aadmi Party.

• In the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-poll, Rinku received 34.05% of the total vote share, winning the elections from the Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by a margin of 58,691 votes. His victory was a huge setback for Congress as the party held the seat since 1999.

  

• The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat had become vacant after Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary died of a cardiac arrest during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.

• He was the only member of the Aam Aadmi Party to hold a Lok Sabha seat.

• In August 2023, after he was suspended from the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session for his misconduct, he reached the Parliament complex in chains to protest against his suspension. He was seen raising slogans of “Free country’s democracy from chains of slavery” in the complex.

  

• In 2024, he was one of the eight candidates, who were named as the AAP candidate from the Jalandhar parliamentary seat in the party’s first list of candidates.

• On 27 March 2024, he resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Vinod Tawde and Sunil Jakhar.

  

• Rinku is fluent in three languages – Hindi, English, and Punjabi.

• Sushil Kumar Rinku had a pet dog named Jack.

  

• He is an ardent follower of Baba Gurinder Singh Ji Dhillon of the Radha Swami Satsang Beas spiritual organisation.

  

• He loves travelling and doing adventure sports in his leisure time.