Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal (born 8 August 1948) is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress party. A lawyer, he formerly served at the helm of various ministries in the Congress lead UPA government over the years – beginning with the Ministry of Science & Technology, then the Ministry of Human Resource Development followed by the Ministry of Communications & IT, and the Ministry of Law & Justice.

Sibal was first nominated in July 1998, as a Member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from the state of Bihar. He served as Additional Solicitor General of India (December 1989 – December 1990) and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association on three occasions (1995–96, 1997–98 and 2001–2002). In 2004 general elections, he won the Chandni Chowk constituency of New Delhi with 71% vote share. In 2014 general elections, he received 18% of the votes and trailed at third position for Chandni Chowk constituency, behind Harsh Vardhan (winner, BJP) and Ashutosh (AAP).

Early life and Education

Sibal was born on 8 August 1948 in Jalandhar in Punjab. His family was rendered homeless and his father was forced to migrate to India during partition. Kapil Sibal moved to Delhi in 1964. After his schooling from St John’s High School in Chandigarh, he joined St. Stephen’s college, University of Delhi, where he earned his LL.B degree, and later an M.A. in history. He joined the bar association in 1970. In the year 1973, he qualified for Indian Administrative Services and was offered an appointment. But he declined the offer and decided to set up his own law practice. Afterwards, he attended the Harvard Law School where he enrolled for an LL.M. which he completed in 1977. He was designated as senior lawyer in 1983. In 1989, he was appointed the Additional Solicitor General of India. In 1994, he was the only lawyer to appear in the Parliament, and successfully defended a Supreme Court judge during impeachment proceedings. The impeachment motion was placed in the assembly for debate and voting on 10 May 1993. Of 401 members present in the assembly that day, there were 196 votes for impeachment and no votes against and 205 abstentions by ruling Congress and its allies. He had served as the President of the Supreme Court Bar association on three occasions, i.e. 1995-1996, 1997-1998 and 2001-2002.