Manoj Tiwari
Manoj Kumar Tiwari (born 1 February 1971) is an Indian Bhojpuri singer, actor, and politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for North East Delhi in the Lok Sabha since 2014, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[1][2] Educated with a Master of Physical Education from Banaras Hindu University, Tiwari built his early career in the Bhojpuri entertainment industry, debuting in films such as Sasura Bada Paisawala in 2004 and appearing in over 40 productions while gaining prominence as a singer with hits appealing to migrant communities from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.[2][3] Transitioning to politics, he secured victories in the 2014, 2019, and 2024 Lok Sabha elections for North East Delhi—a constituency with a large Purvanchali population—defeating opponents by margins exceeding 1 lakh votes in recent contests, and briefly led the BJP's Delhi unit as president from 2016 to 2020, during which the party achieved gains in municipal polls.[4][5] His parliamentary tenure has included participation in debates on sports legislation and cultural heritage bills, though critiques have noted limited utilization of local area development funds relative to peers.[6] Tiwari's style blends cultural advocacy for eastern Indian diaspora interests with party-line support for national policies, amid routine electoral rivalries involving accusations of misinformation and instigation, such as those exchanged with Congress rival Kanhaiya Kumar in 2024.[7]Early life and education
Family background and childhood
Manoj Tiwari was born on 1 February 1971 in Kabir Chaura, a locality in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.[2][1] He was the son of Chandra Deo Tiwari and Lalita Devi (also referred to as Lalita Kunwar), belonging to a Brahmin family that originated from Atarwalia, a small rural village in the Kaimur district of Bihar.[2][8][9] Tiwari grew up as one of six children in the household, with his brother Pushkar Tiwari among the siblings.[8][10] The family environment, rooted in the culturally vibrant yet economically modest setting of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar's border regions, exposed him to traditional music forms; his father was a classical singer, creating a home atmosphere rich in performative arts that nurtured his nascent interest in singing.[11][12] This socio-economic context, characterized by rural simplicity and immersion in Bhojpuri-speaking communities, laid the groundwork for his familiarity with folk traditions prevalent in the area.[9]Academic qualifications
Manoj Tiwari earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi.[13] He later completed a Master of Physical Education (M.P.Ed.) from the same institution in 1994, focusing on sports training and physical fitness disciplines.[2][1] These postgraduate qualifications represent the highest level of formal education attained by Tiwari, with no further advanced degrees pursued.[13] Amid his academic routine in physical education, which emphasized athletic development, Tiwari informally practiced folk singing, integrating performance interests with his structured sports regimen at BHU.[3] This self-taught musical engagement occurred parallel to his formal studies, without specialized training in the arts.[1]Entertainment career
Rise as a Bhojpuri singer
Tiwari began his musical career performing Bhojpuri folk songs at religious sites in Varanasi, including Sheetala Ghat and Mahavir Temple.[3] As a youth in Uttar Pradesh, he composed his first song following Indira Gandhi's assassination on October 31, 1984, and staged performances in village akhadas, cultivating an early rural audience through live folk renditions.[14] In the late 1990s, Tiwari entered the recorded Bhojpuri music market with albums like Futate Kiriniyan (1999), which featured traditional songs emphasizing love and everyday rural experiences, distributed primarily via cassettes that achieved widespread circulation in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.[15] These releases capitalized on the ongoing cassette boom in regional music, amassing a dedicated fanbase among rural listeners who accessed tracks through local vendors and All India Radio broadcasts.[16] By the early 2000s, follow-up albums such as Ae Champa Chameli (2002) propelled his prominence, with hits evoking Bhojpuri cultural motifs of agrarian life and social bonds, reinforcing his role as a folk icon in the genre's heartlands prior to his film ventures.[17] His live stage shows in these regions further amplified this appeal, drawing crowds to performances that highlighted authentic regional instrumentation and narratives.[18]Acting and filmography
Tiwari made his acting debut in the Bhojpuri film Sasura Bada Paisawala (2004), directed by Ajay Sinha, where he portrayed the lead role of Raja alongside Rani Chatterjee.[19][20] The low-budget comedy-drama became a landmark success, grossing an estimated ₹4.5–9 crore against a modest production cost and reportedly earning over 120 times its budget, while reviving the dormant Bhojpuri film industry in the early 2000s.[21][22] Following this breakthrough, Tiwari starred as the leading man in over 40 Bhojpuri films through the mid-2010s, including Daroga Babu I Love You (2004), Bandhan Toote Na (2005), Ganga (2006), and Bhool Gayile Jaaneman (2007).[3] His roles often featured heroic rural protagonists navigating challenges related to family honor, social aspirations of the underclass, caste dynamics, and rural-to-urban migration, frequently incorporating song-and-dance sequences that blended action, romance, and comedy to appeal to migrant labor audiences in regions like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and diaspora communities.[14][23] Tiwari's films peaked commercially in the mid-2000s, with titles like Sasura Bada Paisawala and Ganga achieving substantial earnings in regional markets, often exceeding ₹10–35 crore collectively through theatrical runs and video sales targeted at Bhojpuri-speaking populations.[24] These successes contributed to his status as one of the genre's top male stars, emphasizing mass-appeal narratives over artistic experimentation. He ventured into Hindi cinema with a special appearance and playback singing in Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), contributing the song "Jiya Tu Bihar Ke Lala."[25][26]Television and other media
In 2010, Tiwari participated as a contestant in the fourth season of the Hindi reality television series Bigg Boss, which aired on Colors TV from October 3 to January 29, 2011.[27] His involvement, leveraging his Bhojpuri celebrity status, drew attention through heated exchanges, particularly with co-contestant Dolly Bindra, though he was evicted early in the competition around the 49th day.[28] Tiwari later described the experience as a "dangerous holiday" filled with "stupid people," expressing relief at his exit, yet the exposure broadened his appeal beyond regional audiences.[29] Tiwari hosted several music and talent reality shows, emphasizing Bhojpuri and folk traditions on regional and national channels. In 2008, he anchored Chak De Bachche, a children's competition on 9X channel, where he claimed to be "the best host after Amitabh Bachchan."[30] He later presented Sur Sangram Seasons 1 and 2 on Mahua channel, a Bhojpuri singing showdown judged by artists like Malini Awasthi and Kalpana, which featured auditions and performances to spotlight emerging regional vocalists.[31][27] In 2012, Tiwari hosted Season 2 of Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star on DD National, a pan-India talent hunt mentored by Usha Uthup and Ismail Darbar, conducting auditions across 20 cities to unearth folk and classical singers.[32][27] These programs reinforced his role in elevating Bhojpuri content to wider Indian television viewership prior to his intensified political engagements.Political career
Entry into politics with Samajwadi Party
Manoj Tiwari entered politics by joining the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2009 Indian general elections, motivated in part by the 2008 violence against migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in Mumbai, which highlighted regional underdevelopment and migration pressures.[33] He contested the Lok Sabha seat from Gorakhpur constituency in eastern Uttar Pradesh, leveraging his fame as a Bhojpuri singer and actor to appeal to local voters in a region with significant Bhojpuri-speaking populations.[34] Tiwari's campaign emphasized development initiatives tailored to eastern Uttar Pradesh's economic challenges, including proposals to restart dormant sugar and fertiliser factories to boost employment and proposing a film city in Gorakhpur to foster the local Bhojpuri film industry, generate revenue, and address unemployment.[33] These pledges aimed at infrastructure improvements in the backward region, positioning Tiwari as an advocate for cultural and economic preservation amid competition from established politicians.[33] In the election held on April 16, 2009, Tiwari secured 83,059 votes, accounting for 11.1% of the total valid votes in Gorakhpur, but lost to the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Yogi Adityanath.[35] His candidacy underscored the limitations of celebrity appeal against entrenched party machinery and local incumbency, marking a short-lived alignment with the Samajwadi Party focused on regional advocacy.[34]Transition to BJP and 2014 Lok Sabha victory
In October 2013, Manoj Tiwari defected from the Samajwadi Party to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), citing admiration for Narendra Modi's leadership and vision as key factors in his decision.[36][37] The move aligned with BJP's strategy to appeal to Delhi's substantial Purvanchali migrant population from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, where Tiwari's Bhojpuri celebrity status provided a cultural bridge to voters in urban poor and working-class areas.[38][39] Tiwari was fielded as BJP's candidate from the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 general elections, a seat characterized by its migrant-heavy demographics and Bhojpuri-speaking communities.[40] His campaign leveraged the national Modi wave, emphasizing development promises and connectivity for unauthorized settlements, while capitalizing on his ethnic and linguistic rapport with Purvanchali voters to counter rivals from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress.[41][42] Tiwari secured victory on May 17, 2014, polling 596,125 votes for a 50.6% share and defeating AAP's Anand Kumar by a margin of 144,084 votes, with Congress trailing further behind.[40][42] This win reflected BJP's broader sweep in Delhi amid national anti-incumbency against the Congress-led UPA, bolstered by Tiwari's appeal to the constituency's estimated 30 lakh Purvanchali residents seeking infrastructure and regularization.[39] As a new MP, Tiwari prioritized constituency-level interventions, including advocacy for regularizing unauthorized colonies prevalent in North East Delhi, aligning with BJP's outreach to urban poor migrants through promises of property rights and basic amenities like water and electricity.[43] These efforts underscored a pivot toward practical development agendas, complementing the party's Hindutva framework with targeted welfare for overlooked settlements housing low-income workers.[44]Subsequent terms and re-elections (2019 and 2024)
Tiwari secured re-election in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from North East Delhi, defeating Congress candidate Sheila Dikshit by a margin exceeding 3 lakh votes, with Tiwari polling over 6 lakh votes to Dikshit's trailing tally.[45] This victory, representing a vote share of approximately 52.4%, marked a substantial increase in his margin from the 2014 contest, reflecting strengthened BJP support in the constituency amid national trends favoring the party.[46] During his second term, Tiwari focused on constituency development, raising parliamentary questions on civic amenities in areas like Sonia Vihar, including infrastructure upgrades.[47] He addressed persistent water supply shortages by organizing "pani panchayat" meetings starting in July 2021 to engage residents and local authorities on rationing and pipeline issues exacerbated by summer demand and governance lapses under the AAP-led Delhi government.[48] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tiwari coordinated relief efforts, including distribution of essentials in densely populated migrant-heavy neighborhoods, while critiquing delays in central fund utilization by the state administration for health infrastructure. The 2020 Delhi riots, which erupted in February amid CAA protests and affected North East Delhi's riot-prone zones like Shiv Vihar and Karawal Nagar, prompted Tiwari to call for impartial compensation to all victims regardless of community and a time-bound probe into instigators.[49] He attributed the violence partly to opposition-fueled unrest and police underestimation of ground tensions, while advocating post-riot dialogue on CAA to clarify its non-discriminatory intent toward Indian citizens.[50] [51] Tiwari positioned his interventions as safeguarding resident interests in Hindu-dominated affected areas, emphasizing rebuilding and security enhancements. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Tiwari retained the seat against Congress's Kanhaiya Kumar, fielded under the AAP-Congress INDIA alliance, winning by a margin of 138,778 votes despite a narrower vote share of around 40.6% amid urban voter shifts and alliance consolidation.[52] [53] His campaign highlighted ongoing local advocacy, including pushes for metro line extensions to underserved pockets and sustained water augmentation projects, underscoring continuity in addressing the constituency's infrastructure deficits.[47]Leadership in Delhi BJP unit
Manoj Tiwari was appointed president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Delhi unit on November 30, 2016, succeeding Satish Upadhyay, with the aim of leveraging his Bhojpuri cultural roots to consolidate support among the significant Purvanchali migrant community from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which forms a substantial portion of Delhi's electorate.[54][55] During his tenure, which extended until June 2, 2020, Tiwari focused on organizational expansion, including intensified outreach to Purvanchali voters through rallies and community events, contributing to the BJP's improved performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections where the party secured seven out of seven seats in Delhi.[4][56] As Delhi BJP president, Tiwari played a central role in the 2019-2020 assembly election campaigns, mobilizing grassroots workers and critiquing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's handling of issues like infrastructure and welfare delivery, while employing innovative tactics such as WhatsApp-distributed deepfake videos to amplify anti-incumbency messages against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.[57] Despite the BJP's loss in the February 2020 Delhi assembly polls, where it won 8 seats against AAP's 62, Tiwari's leadership emphasized voter registration drives and booth-level strengthening, laying groundwork for future gains.[58] His celebrity status from the entertainment industry helped bridge high-profile appeals with local cadre mobilization, fostering internal cohesion amid reported post-election reviews.[59] Post-tenure, Tiwari continued influencing Delhi BJP strategy as a Lok Sabha MP, notably contributing to the party's targeted Purvanchali outreach in the lead-up to the 2025 assembly elections through events like the "Purvanchal Samman March" protesting alleged AAP neglect of migrant communities.[60] The BJP's victory in those elections, securing 48 of 70 seats on February 8, 2025, marked a reversal from prior defeats, with Tiwari attributing success to sustained organizational efforts against AAP's governance lapses and enhanced migrant voter engagement.[61][62][63] This organizational focus under and beyond his presidency also supported his own re-election in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from North East Delhi, a constituency with heavy Purvanchali influence.[5][64]Political positions and public statements
Stances on national security and infiltration
Manoj Tiwari has consistently criticized illegal infiltration across India's borders, particularly highlighting the influx of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya Muslims as threats to national security and demographic balance. In August 2018, he urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to identify and deport thousands of such infiltrators residing illegally in Delhi, citing their involvement in crimes and the need for measures akin to Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) to safeguard citizen interests.[65][66] He argued that unchecked immigration alters voter demographics and strains resources, advocating stricter border controls to prevent porous entry points exploited by these groups.[67] Tiwari has endorsed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC as essential verification mechanisms to distinguish genuine citizens from infiltrators, emphasizing their role in protecting persecuted non-Muslim refugees from neighboring countries without excluding Indian Muslims, contrary to opposition narratives. In January 2020, he stated that illegal immigrants had no locus standi to protest the CAA, reinforcing demands for an NRC in Delhi to root out unauthorized residents posing security risks.[68][69] His position aligns with data from Assam's NRC process, which excluded over 1.9 million individuals primarily of Bangladeshi origin, underscoring the acts' focus on empirical citizenship documentation rather than religious bias.[70] In 2025, Tiwari intensified scrutiny on opposition policies, accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of opposing Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls—a process aimed at purging fake and infiltrator entries—to enable illegal immigrants as voters for electoral gains. He described this as a deliberate strategy prioritizing vote banks over security, warning that such leniency facilitates demographic engineering in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh vulnerable to cross-border influxes.[71] Tiwari's advocacy for SIR-like regulations reflects concerns over causal links between infiltration and rising crime rates, as evidenced by Delhi police reports linking Rohingya settlements to local offenses, urging proactive central intervention to maintain territorial integrity.[72][73]Criticisms of opposition parties
Manoj Tiwari has frequently criticized the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leader Arvind Kejriwal for alleged corruption and governance failures. In October 2018, he described Kejriwal's administration as "the most corrupt" in Delhi's history, pointing to irregularities in various departments.[74] Tiwari reiterated this in January 2025, stating that Delhi residents had recognized Kejriwal's "corrupt face" after three terms in power, amid probes into AAP's financial dealings, including Kejriwal's March 2024 arrest in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy.[75][76] He has highlighted AAP's unfulfilled promises, such as sustainable free utilities, accusing the party of promoting unsustainable freebies that contributed to fiscal strain despite claims of debt-free governance.[77][78] Tiwari has also targeted AAP for inaction on core issues, launching campaigns like a 2017 yatra to expose the party's shortcomings in public services after three electoral mandates yielded persistent problems and leader enrichment.[79][80] In the lead-up to the February 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, he predicted the results would underscore AAP's corruption and neglect, a forecast aligned with BJP's victory of 48 seats—ending AAP's decade-long rule and marking BJP's return to power after 27 years.[81][82] Regarding the Congress party, Tiwari has condemned its dynastic tendencies and perceived anti-Hindu positions, particularly in responses to party president Mallikarjun Kharge's critiques. In November 2024, following Kharge's claim that the 'B' in BJP stood for "betrayal" and 'J' for "jumla" (empty promises), Tiwari countered that Kharge commanded no internal respect within Congress, a party he accused of frustration-driven rhetoric amid its own failures, including reliance on family legacies over merit.[83][84] He framed such opposition attacks as obstructionist, contrasting them with BJP's demonstrated delivery, as evidenced by the 2025 electoral mandate where Congress failed to secure any seats.[81]Views on local Delhi issues like pollution and governance
In October 2025, following Diwali celebrations, Tiwari projected that Delhi's air would become breathable within 2 to 2.5 years through rigorous enforcement of pollution controls, emphasizing long-term structural reforms over immediate fixes.[85] He cited empirical improvements in the Air Quality Index (AQI), noting that post-Diwali levels remained lower than historical peaks despite green firecrackers, attributing this to enhanced monitoring and rejecting AAP's attribution of spikes primarily to farm stubble burning in Punjab under their prior state governance.[86] Tiwari argued that sustained action on vehicular emissions, industrial sources, and inter-state coordination—facilitated by central interventions—would yield measurable declines, contrasting this with AAP's decade-long tenure marked by recurrent seasonal crises without resolution.[87] Tiwari has advocated for central schemes to bolster local environmental resilience, particularly in North East Delhi, including widespread rainwater harvesting to recharge depleting groundwater tables amid urban expansion.[88] In 2021, he organized 'pani panchayat' forums to address acute water shortages, pushing for expanded piped supply networks and rooftop harvesting mandates to mitigate governance gaps in resource distribution.[48] These efforts tie into broader calls for green infrastructure, such as afforestation drives and corridor development under national programs, aimed at reducing urban heat and flood risks through data-backed implementation rather than ad-hoc measures. On governance, Tiwari has critiqued AAP's handling of Delhi's civic challenges, pointing to persistent infrastructure delays—like stalled drainage upgrades and sanitation deficits—that inflict tangible hardships on residents, including flooding and contamination during monsoons.[89] He favors verifiable metrics, such as AQI trajectories shifting from "severe" peaks in prior Septembers to moderated October levels via enforcement, over narrative-driven complaints that evade accountability for local failures in waste management and urban planning.[90] This stance underscores a preference for causal interventions, like central oversight on multi-agency pollution grids, to deliver quantifiable public health gains amid Delhi's entrenched urban pressures.Controversies
Personal life disputes
Manoj Tiwari married Rani Tiwari in 1999, and the couple had a daughter named Rhiti.[91][92] Their marriage ended in divorce proceedings initiated in 2011 after 11 years, primarily due to Rani's suspicions of Tiwari's extramarital affair with actress Shweta Tiwari following his participation in the reality show Bigg Boss season 4.[93][94] Tiwari publicly denied the affair and expressed reluctance to divorce, appealing for intervention to reconcile, but agreed to mutual consent divorce papers signed on June 22, 2011, under pressure from Rani; the divorce was finalized in 2012.[94][95] The proceedings drew media attention owing to Tiwari's prominence as a Bhojpuri singer and actor, but no criminal charges or convictions arose from the matter, with the separation handled through family court without evidence of physical abuse or legal escalations beyond the divorce petition.[93] Post-divorce, Tiwari has maintained financial support for Rani and Rhiti, and relations appear cordial, as evidenced by Rhiti's involvement in family decisions, including encouraging her father's remarriage to Surabhi Tiwari around 2011.[96] No public custody battles or ongoing familial conflicts have been reported, with Rhiti maintaining ties to both parents and her maternal family.[97]Political and legal challenges
As of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Manoj Tiwari has two pending criminal cases disclosed in his election affidavit, one classified as serious, with no convictions recorded against him in any judicial proceedings.[98] [99] The primary case involves defamation charges filed by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in July 2019, stemming from Tiwari's tweets alleging irregularities in AAP's education model, including unsubstantiated claims of financial mismanagement; the Delhi High Court stayed trial court proceedings against Tiwari in May 2023 pending further review.[100] [101] The second case pertains to a summoning order under challenge in Rouse Avenue District Court, Delhi, related to procedural electoral discrepancies, though details remain limited to court filings without evidence of substantive violations.[102] These matters reflect ongoing opposition-driven legal scrutiny typical in polarized Indian politics, but lack of resolutions underscores the absence of proven culpability. Tiwari has faced political accusations of opportunism for switching from the Samajwadi Party to the BJP in 2013, prior to his 2014 Lok Sabha candidacy, with critics framing the move as a betrayal of socialist roots for personal electoral gain amid shifting alliances in Uttar Pradesh-origin voter bases in Delhi. Supporters counter that such transitions represent adaptive realism to align with dominant national currents and local Purvanchali sentiments, rather than ideological vacillation, a pattern observed across Indian politicians navigating coalition dynamics without formal disqualifications. No independent probes or party sanctions have substantiated claims of disloyalty beyond rhetorical opposition attacks. During the 2020 Delhi riots, Tiwari publicly attributed violence escalation to police failure in anticipating unrest, calling for an inquiry into operational lapses rather than endorsing confrontation, yet opposition narratives and reports from bodies like the Delhi Minorities Commission implicated BJP leaders collectively in inflammatory rhetoric, amplifying perceptions of incitement without specific evidence or charges against him.[103] [104] These interpretations, often from AAP-aligned or minority-focused outlets, highlight selective framing amid broader debates on riot causation, but judicial outcomes have not linked Tiwari to provocation, emphasizing instead institutional preparedness deficits.[103]Role in 2020 Delhi riots and related debates
During the February 23–26, 2020, riots in Northeast Delhi, Tiwari's parliamentary constituency, which resulted in 53 deaths (36 Muslims, 15 Hindus, and 2 unidentified) and over 200 injuries, Tiwari publicly condemned the violence and appealed for peace, attributing tensions to "anti-national elements" amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).[105][106] He instructed BJP workers to avoid provocative actions and emphasized that all parties should prioritize restoring order, while stating that perpetrators would face justice.[107] Tiwari visited violence-hit areas such as Yamuna Vihar to assess damage and interact with residents, focusing on Hindu-majority neighborhoods where reports indicated residents felt insecure, and he also went to GTB Hospital to meet injured victims.[108][109] Tiwari alleged that opposition parties, including AAP and Congress, contributed to the unrest by spreading misinformation about the CAA to mobilize protests, which escalated into violence, and he criticized their role in anti-CAA agitation as instigative.[110] He defended police responses against accusations of bias, arguing that a February 23 speech by BJP leader Kapil Mishra played no causal role in the riots, and called for probes into police lapses in anticipating the scale of unrest while supporting actions to identify and prosecute rioters regardless of affiliation.[111][103] In the aftermath, Tiwari advocated for BJP outreach to Muslim communities in riot-affected Northeast Delhi to clarify CAA provisions and counter perceived misinformation, while highlighting the need for victim rehabilitation without endorsing narratives that overlooked casualties on both sides amid disputed claims of one-sided aggression.[51] This stance reflected a push for empirical investigation into provocations linked to sustained protests, contrasting with opposition critiques that framed the events primarily as failures of governance or security.[112]Personal life
Marriages and children
Manoj Tiwari has three daughters. His eldest, Rhiti Tiwari, born from his first marriage, is a singer, songwriter, composer, and entrepreneur who entered politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in May 2024.[113][114] Tiwari maintains an active parental role in Rhiti's life, supporting her professional pursuits in music and her political involvement, as evidenced by public appearances and family endorsements during her BJP entry.[113] Tiwari married Surabhi Tiwari, his second wife, on April 26, 2020.[2] The couple has two daughters: the first born in December 2020 and the second in December 2022.[91][115] They lead a relatively private family life, with Surabhi occasionally participating in traditional events like Karwa Chauth alongside Tiwari, while prioritizing the upbringing of their young children amid his parliamentary duties.[116] This arrangement reflects Tiwari's emphasis on family stability and discretion in personal matters.[91]Current residence and lifestyle
Manoj Tiwari maintains his official parliamentary residence at 24, Mother Teresa Crescent Marg, New Delhi, while owning additional immovable property in J-7/2, West Jyoti Nagar, Shahdara, within the North East Delhi constituency.[2][98] This arrangement supports his ongoing engagement with the constituency through localized activities, including cultural performances that draw on his prior career in Bhojpuri music and acting.[117] Tiwari sustains a fitness-oriented lifestyle, incorporating regular physical activity informed by his postgraduate qualification in physical education, and has publicly demonstrated commitment to health initiatives such as fitness challenges.[118] He continues selective musical performances at public events, blending his entertainment roots with contemporary public life, though these have diminished in frequency since entering politics.[119] As per his 2024 Lok Sabha election affidavit, Tiwari's total declared assets exceed ₹28 crore, encompassing movable assets like cash and deposits (around ₹6 crore), immovable properties valued at over ₹20 crore, and income streams from his MP salary (approximately ₹1.2 lakh monthly plus allowances), residual royalties from music and film ventures, and other professional earnings.[13][120] This financial profile reflects a transition from entertainment-derived wealth to diversified holdings, with no reported liabilities exceeding ₹1 lakh.[98]Electoral record
Summary of contests and outcomes
Manoj Tiwari contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Gorakhpur on a Samajwadi Party ticket, securing 83,059 votes or 11.1% of the total, and losing to Yogi Adityanath of the BJP.[121] He switched to the BJP and has since won from North East Delhi in 2014, 2019, and 2024, with vote margins of approximately 1.44 lakh, 2.67 lakh, and 1.39 lakh votes respectively, reflecting consolidation among the constituency's large migrant population from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where his Bhojpuri cultural background aids mobilization.[122][45][123][124]| Year | Constituency | Party | Votes Received | Vote % | Main Opponent | Opponent Votes | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Gorakhpur | SP | 83,059 | 11.1% | Yogi Adityanath (BJP) | 403,156 | 320,097 |
| 2014 | North East Delhi | BJP | 596,125 | 45.3% | Anand Kumar (AAP) | 452,041 | 144,084 |
| 2019 | North East Delhi | BJP | 653,714 | 53.9% | Sheila Dikshit (Congress) | 387,086 | 266,628 |
| 2024 | North East Delhi | BJP | 824,451 | 53.1% | Kanhaiya Kumar (Congress) | 685,673 | 138,778 |