Delhi Elections 2025: Who is Ravinder Singh Negi, the BJP leader whose feet Modi touched at Delhi rally?

Delhi Elections 2025: On Wednesday, before addressing a rally in the national capital's Kartar Nagar area ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen touching the feet of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. Soon, the video started circulating on social media, with many commenting on the gesture.

The gesture was captured while Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva introduced all party candidates before the PM could start his speech. Each candidate walked up to the stage, one after another greeted the Prime Minister. 

Most of them bowed to show respect for the Prime Minister. But soon after Ravinder Singh Negi, the party candidate from Patparganj, tried to touch Modi's feet, the Prime Minister repeated the gesture and, in fact, touched Negi's feet three times.

After Negi, BJP's Vishwas Nagar candidate, Om Prakash Sharma also bowed to touch Modi’s feet but was stopped midway. This is not the first time PM Modi has reciprocated and touched the feet of those who touched his at events.

When in Delhi Assembly Election Result?

The 70-member Delhi Assembly elections are expected to be held on February 5. The results will be declared on February 8.

The AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2015. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party won the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections in the national capital. Before AAP, the Congress was in power in Delhi for 15 years. The BJP has not been in power in Delhi for 27 years.

The February 5 contest will primarily be a three-way fight between the AAP, the BJP and the Congress. The AAP and Congress have been in power in Delhi since 1998. 

Who is Ravinder Singh Negi?

Negi, 45, is contesting from Patparganj seat on a BJP ticket. The seat was won by senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia thrice since 2013. Sisodia has moved out of this seat and is contesting from Jangpura in the upcoming assembly polls. Negi is up against UPSC coach Avadh Ojha ‘sir’ from the seat. Ojha joined AAP days before his name was featured in the candidate list.

Negi is presently an MCD councillor from Vinod Nagar area which is part of the Patparganj Assembly constituency. He has been in the news recently.

Negi was at the centre of controversy when he appeared in videos on social media in which he asked a shopowner to change the name of his dairy to indicate that it is run by a Muslim. In many other videos that Negi shared on his social media handles, the BJP leader is seen telling Hindu street vendors to put up saffron flags on vending carts. Negi also visited butcher shops before festivals asking them to keep the shops closed to respect the religious sentiments of Hindus.

The videos appeared on social media in October 2024. Negi was fielded from Patparganj by the BJP in January this year.

Negi has previously contested the assembly election from the seat. In the 2020 assembly election, he gave Manish Sisodia a tough fight from the seat, though he lost by a very thin margin of 2 per cent. In the Delhi MCD polls held in 2022, he defeated the AAP candidate by 2,311 votes from Vinod Nagar seat.

Negi has previously been Zila Mahamantri of the Delhi unit of BJP before his 2020 assembly poll performance.