Kirit Somaiya

Kirit Somaiya (born 12 February 1954) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party who represented Mumbai North-East in the 16th Lok Sabha and the 13th Lok Sabha . He is currently appointed as vice president of BJP's Maharashtra unit. [1]

Dr.

Kirit Somaiya
Vice President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra
Assumed office
Aug 2019
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
May 2014 – 23 May 2019
Preceded bySanjay Dina Patil
Succeeded byManoj Kotak
ConstituencyMumbai North East
In office
1999–2004
Preceded byGurudas Kamat
Succeeded byGurudas Kamat
ConstituencyMumbai North East
Member of Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra
In office
1995–1999
Preceded byVamanrao Parab
Succeeded bySardar Tara Singh
ConstituencyMulund
Personal details
Born (1954-02-12) 12 February 1954
Bombay, Bombay State, India
Nationality Indian
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)Dr. Medha Somaiya
Children1
ResidenceNeelam Nagar,
Mulund East,
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Pin-425111
Alma mater
Websitekiritsomaiya.com
As of 31 March, 2015

Early life and education

Somaiya was born and brought up in Mumbai in a middle – class family. He married Medha Somaiya and they have one son.

Somaiya's son Neil has also joined BJP and he is Municipal Councillor from Ward 108 Mulund.[2]

He graduated as Chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartererd Accountants of India (ICAI) in 1979 and also secured a rank in the All India Merit List. He was conferred with a Doctorate from the Mumbai University in 2005 – "Ph.D in Finance – Capital Market – Small Investors Protection." He is credited with submitting one of the longest thesis of 1,202 pages which was submitted in 2 volumes.

Political career

Somaiya was motivated by his mother during his childhood to serve the country and he decided to enter into politics and concentrate on finance and economic issues at a young age.

As a student activist, Kirit took part in the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in 1975 when a State of National Emergency was declared in country. Later on, he joined the BJP and represented the Mulund Constituency of Maharashtra Assembly and the Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha Constituency.

In 1995, Somaiya contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections and got elected from the Mulund assembly where he won by a margin of 43,527 votes. As a M.L.A., he got 2 major Acts passed in the Maharashtra Assembly - Small Investors’ Protection Act of Maharashtra, Repealing Coroners Court (Post Mortem) Act and introduced the Housing Society Conveyance Bill.

In 1999 Lok Sabha election, Somaiya defeated the incumbent Gurudas Kamat of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 7,276 votes. As a parliamentarian, he submitted the maximum number of petitions to the parliament, i.e. 11 (out of 27 total petitions presented in 13th Lok Sabha) during his tenure in Lok Sabha which was the highest number of petitions submitted by any MP in the history of Indian Parliament. He was an extremely active member of the house where during his tenure he raised a total of 832 questions in the house on several issues.

On 27 February 2014, the BJP announced its first list of candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections and Somaiya was fielded as the BJP candidate from Mumbai North East. He defeated the incumbent Sanjay Dina Patil of the Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party by a large margin of 317,122 votes.[3]

Social and political contributions

As the National Convenor of the Anti-Corruption – Scam Expose Committee of the BJP, Somaiya ran a Nationwide campaign against corruption of the ruling UPA Government and its allies where he travelled through 16 states and 100 districts exposing several scams. He has, however, been characteristically silent on scams and corruption within his own party like the Yeddyurappa scandal.[4]

Often, Somaiya in his exposes has taken on several Ministers and Senior Politicians for charges of corruption and also filed Public Interest Litigations (PIL) in an attempt to bring justice.

List of the scams Somaiya has exposed /pursued

As a People’s Activist, Somaiya has made several contributions, both Social and political in nature. He founded the NGO "Yuvak Pratishthan" which has been active for over 3 decades in taking up several initiatives such as Slum Rehabilitation, Cheap and Accessible Healthcare for all, Promotion of Education and Sports.

Some of his Notable Social Contributions

  • Hepatitis B Free Mumbai where more than 32 Lakhs vaccines were provided at a subsidized rate (Setting a record in Limca Book of Records)
  • ‘Cataract Free Mumbai’ Campaign where over 400 camps were held all over Mumbai
  • Rail Pravasi Suraksha Abhiyaan – Submitted a petition to the Parliament which was co-signed by 50,000 railway passengers of Mumbai to address the safety issues at Mumbai’s railway stations

Somaiya also founded the Investors’ Grievances Forum (IGF) in 1994, an NGO with a social objective dedicated to the protection and safeguarding of the rights of investors through education, awareness, guidance, mass campaigns and representations to regulators, govt. authorities and courts.

Positions held
  • Member of Parliament
  • National Secretary – Bharatiya Janata Party
  • Member of Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra
  • Vice President – Maharashtra BJP
  • President – Mumbai BJP
  • All India Convenor - BJP Investors Cell
  • President – Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha

References
  1. "Kirit Somaiya vice-chief of BJP Maharashtra unit". Times of India. 20 August 2019.
  2. Somaiya, Neil. "Neil Somaiya in Mumbai Civic Body". Indian Express. Indian Express. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  3. EC
  4. "BBC News - Karnataka mining scandal: Yeddyurappa faces probe". Bbc.com. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
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