Rakhi Birla

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rakhi Birla

• Rakhi Birla hails from a family that has been involved in social causes for four generations. It started with her great-grandfather. Her grandfather continued the tradition by joining the fight for India’s independence.

• When Rakhi was in 10th grade, her school mistakenly wrote ‘Birla’ instead of her real surname ‘Bidhlan’ on her certificate. She did not change it and has been gone by Birla ever since.

• After pursuing a Master of Arts in Mass Communication, she worked as a trainee reporter at Jain TV, a local television channel. She worked there for seven months.

• In 2013, she met politician Arvind Kejriwal and began working with him during the Jan Lokpal Bill movement. Motivated by the experience, she joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

• Rakhi won the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections on a ticket from AAP from the Mangolpuri constituency by defeating INC candidate Raj Kumar Chauhan by a margin of 10,585 votes.

• On 28 December 2013, Rakhi was appointed as the Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development, Social Welfare and Language. She became the youngest-ever cabinet minister in Delhi and served in this position till 14 February 2014.

  

• In 2014, she contested the Lok Sabha elections from North West Delhi. However, she lost the seat to the BJP candidate Udit Raj.

• She defeated INC’s Raj Kumar Chauhan by a margin of 22,699 votes in the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections.

• On 10 June 2016, Rakhi was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, making her the youngest person ever to hold this position.

  

• In 2020, she won the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections by defeating Karam Singh Karma, a BJP candidate, by a margin of 30,116 votes.

  

• She has worked on various causes in collaboration with many non-profit organisations.

• Rakhi is a fitness enthusiast. She often meditates and practices yoga.