Meenakshi Lekhi from BJP was Member of Parliament from New Delhi constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. She is the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Supreme Court lawyer. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she won the much coveted New Delhi seat with over 4.5 lakh votes as a BJP candidate. In July 2016, she was appointed chairperson of the Committee on Privileges of the Lok Sabha in Parliament.
She is a regular contributor to political journals and newspapers, penning ‘Forthwrite’, a fortnightly column in The Week magazine. She has also distinguished herself as an active participant in the various parliamentary processes and was awarded the “Best Debut Women Parliamentarian” award by Lokmat in 2017.
Personal Information
- Name: Meenakshi Lekhi
- Age: 51
- Date of birth: April 30 1967
- Sex: Female
- Address and contact: C-98A, South Extension, Part-II New Delhi-110049, Tel : (011) 26267501, 09810729643 (M)
- Constituency: New Delhi
- Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
- Term: 2014 – in office
- Twitter: @M_Lekhi
- Facebook: @MLekhiBJP
- Educational Qualifications: B.Sc. (Hons), LL.B. Educated at Hindu College and Campus Law Centre – I, Delhi University, Delhi
- Profession: Supreme Court Lawyer
- Pending criminal cases: None
Positions held
- 2010: National Vice President, BJP Mahila MorchaMay
- 2014: Elected to 16th Lok Sabha
- 12 June 2014 onwards: Member, House Committee
- 1 Sep 2014 – 20 July 2016: Member, Committee on Privileges; Member, Press Council of India; Member, Standing Committee on Urban Development
- 11 Dec 2014 onwards: Member, Joint Committee on Offices of Profit
- 20 July 2016 onwards: Chairperson, Committee on Privileges
- 3 Nov 2017:Member, Press Council of India
Lekhi has been associated with the drafting committees of the Women’s Reservation Bill and Problem of Sexual Harassment at Workplace bill, besides being Joint Secretary of Blind Relief Association and Vice Chairperson of JPM Blind School.Lekhi has been a social activist and has been associated with several institutions, including National Commission for Women, Sakshi, NIPCD and several other organisations.
Assets and liabilities
| 2014 | 2019 | |
| Movable Assets | Rs 7,09,36,470 | Rs 8,24,41,689 |
| Immovable Assets | Rs 27,90,00,000 | Rs 27,90,00,000 |
| Total | Rs 34,99,36,470 | Rs 36,14,41,689 |
| Liabilities | Rs 32,27,562 | NIL |
MP Performance
Of the seven MPs, New Delhi’s Meenakshi Lekhi took part in the most number of debates in the 16th Lok Sabha. Lekhi asked 437 questions, though she did not raise many city-related issues. Among debates and bills she took up in the House mention must be made of the alleged misuse of public money by the Delhi government and house tax waiver in the state.
| MP | Attendance | No of Debates | No of questions asked | Private Member’s Bill |
| Meenakshi Lekhi | 95% | 125 | 437 | 20 |
| National average | 80% | 67.1 | 293 | 2.3 |
| State average | 92% | 65.8 | 315 | 12.7 |
Some of the key debates/bills she participated in, includes:
- Regarding the law on Sabrimala Temple Issue
- The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, as Reported by Joint Committee
- Issue regarding providing minimum wages to the poors
- Shaming of farmers in Haryana who defaulted on their loans
For the complete list of the questions asked by the MP, click here.
MP in news
On April 12th, Meenakshi Lekhi filed a criminal contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for using the phrase ‘chowkidar chor hai’ against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The MP also came in news on April 25 for accusing former Union minister and Congress candidate Ajay Maken of doing shoddy work with the Delhi Master Plan 2021 leading to the sealing crisis in the capital. Lekhi accused Maken of leaving several gaps in the plan, never making a genuine attempt to resolve the issue completely.
In 2017, Lekhi claimed that those raising the issue of lynching were “hypocrites”. They have forgotten the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the alleged “lynching of karsevaks” in 2002.
Lekhi criticised the LDF government in Kerala for “failing” to contain the killing of RSS and BJP workers in 2017. From God’s own country, Kerala has become God’s “forsaken” country, she said.