Dharmender Singh Koli

Dharmender Singh Koli is an Indian politician from Delhi affiliated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He is a former member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, having been elected in December 2013 from the Seemapuri constituency.

Early life and education Koli passed the Class 10 All India Secondary School Examination in 2005.

Political career From 2005 to 2013, Koli had assisted his social activist sister, Santosh Koli, in her work for Parivartan, an organisation that had been established by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Santosh had been selected by the AAP to contest the seat of Seemapuri in the December 2013 Delhi legislative assembly elections but died following a hit-and-run accident in June 2013. In August, Dharmender was chosen to replace her as the AAP candidate in Seemapuri.

Seemapuri is a socially and economically deprived constituency whose electorate comprises a large population of Muslims, many of whom have their origins in West Bengal.

Koli's campaign was funded by the party, largely owing to his political inexperience and financial background. The Economic Times called this a "shock victory". While his family and party ascribed his success to the popularity of his late sister, many youths among the electorate were reported to have voted for the AAP as a new alternative secular party.

Personal life Koli is unmarried and resides with his family in a resettlement colony at Sundar Nagari, Delhi, He has an elder sister, Usha.