IIT prof, AAP’s behind-the-scenes man, Sandeep Pathak elevated to national stage

Pathak, who till 2020, was an associate professor at IIT Delhi whose research centred on photovoltaic cells, joined AAP full-time ahead of the Delhi and Punjab Assembly polls.

He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2011 and returned a few years later to teach at IIT Delhi.

A low-key leader who shuns the limelight, Pathak has been the behind-the-scenes strategist for AAP for five years.

The party’s win in Punjab is what first brought Pathak’s role in the party to the forefront.

“He worked in Punjab for almost two years before the polls. The state unit was in shambles, with rampant infighting. He worked with trusted state leaders and rebuilt the organisation ground up. And he did it quietly. Till he was named as the party’s Rajya Sabha pick, very few people had even heard his name,” said a senior party leader.

Pathak, 43, is originally from Chhattisgarh and is a close confidant of party chief Arvind Kejriwal.

Ever since AAP won a landslide majority in Punjab, he has had a role in organisational work in the states that went to polls – Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

He, alongside AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha, camped in Gujarat for months before the state went to polls.

“In the coming months, elections are coming up in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana and Pathak’s home state of Chhattisgarh. In making him the national general secretary, the party has given a clear indication that it will contest the upcoming polls in several states and is already starting to build a base there,” said an AAP leader.

Pathak was also appointed as a permanent invitee to the party’s highest decision-making body, the political affairs committee.

In a statement on Tuesday, AAP said, “Dr Sandeep Pathak had played an important role in the victory of AAP in the Punjab elections in March 2022…He was also the election in-charge in Gujarat, where he played an important role and the party went on to win nearly 13 per cent vote share in the state…He is presently considered to be one of the best election strategists in the country and has shown his political skills in many elections in the last couple of years.”