Will Not Contest 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Announces Sushma Swaraj

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has reportedly cited health issues as the reason.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, in a press conference in Indore on Tuesday, 20 November, announced that she will not fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“It is the party which decides, but I have made up my mind not to contest next elections.”

Sushma Swaraj

She has reportedly cited health reasons behind her decision.

Swaraj, a senior BJP leader, was born on 14 February 1952 at Ambala Cantt in Haryana.

She has been serving as the Minister of External Affairs since May 2014 and is the second woman to hold the office after Indira Gandhi.

Swaraj was elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.

She served as the fifth chief minister of Delhi from October 1998 to December 1998.

In 2014, she won the Vidisha constituency in Madhya Pradesh for a second term, retaining her seat by a margin of over 400,000 votes.

Swaraj, who became the Minister of External Affairs in the Union Cabinet on 26 May 2014, was called India’s ‘best-loved politician’ by the US daily Wall Street Journal.