Nirmal Kumar Singh

Nirmal Kumar Singh
Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir [1]
Governor Narinder Nath Vohra
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
Preceded by President's Rule
Personal details
Born January 22, 1956
Basohli (J&K)
Political party Bharatiya Janata Party
Residence Karanwara
Religion Hinduism

Nirmal Kumar Singh is Deputy CM of Jammu and Kashmir and is a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party. On 6 March 2015 he assumed the charge as Minister for Power Development and Housing and Urban Development.

He was elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2014 assembly election from Billawar in Kathua district. He defeated former minister Manohar Lal Sharma of Indian National Congress by a margin of 17,975 votes.[2] Dr Nirmal Singh has done Ph.D in History from Jammu University in 1988 and now serves as a professor of history in Jammu University.[3]

Early life and education

Dr Nirmal Singh was born on Jan 22, 1956 to a humble family in Karanwara Basohli, J&K. He did his primary education in his native place. He is the youngest to his two brothers. His father was a security aide of erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir.

Political career

Singh started taking active interest in political activities at a young age. He was arrested during the Emergency period in 1975. After serving the ABVP as a pracharak in different parts of the country, Dr Singh returned to Jammu and joined the University of Jammu as a lecturer in the Post Graduate Department of History. Besides teaching at the department, he also took the mantle of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad state president and following a directive from the RSS joined the BJP. He was appointed the state general secretary of the party in 1998.

Singh contested several Lok Sabha and state assembly elections over the past 25 years but had to wait till 2014 for his maiden victory. 58-year-old Singh won the assembly election held last year from Billawar constituency in Kathua district by defeating sitting Congress MLA by a margin of nearly 18,000 votes. He is among the first BJP MLAs to be sworn-in as a minister in the country's only Muslim-majority state. A long time RSS supporter, the BJP leader is considered the main force behind the rise of party in Jammu region of the state over the years. He is considered close to Jagat Prakash Nadda due to ABVP roots.

References

  1. ↑ Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, BJP’s Nirmal Singh to assume office in J&K on 22 February - The Economic Times
  2. ↑ http://eciresults.nic.in/ConstituencywiseS0966.htm?ac=66
  3. ↑ Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh(Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)):Constituency- BILLAWAR(KATHUA) - Affidavit Information of Candidate:

External links

Nirmal Kumar Singh on Twitter.