Yogendra Yadav (born 5 September 1963) is an Indian activist, psephologist and politician whose primary interests are in the political and social sciences. He was a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi from 2004 to 2016. He is a former member of University Grants Commission (UGC) and National Advisory Council on Right to Education Act (NAC-RTE) constituted by Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Govt of India, in 2010. He was a member of the National Executive of the Aam Aadmi Party until 2015. Yadav is a founding member of Swaraj Abhiyan and Jai Kisan Andolan. He was the founding National President of Swaraj India, a registered political party. Early life Yogendra Yadav's father was a professor of economics and his paternal grandfather was a teacher. His wife, Madhulika Banerjee, is a professor at the University of Delhi. His childhood name was Salim, which is commonly associated with people of the Muslim faith. It was changed to Yogendra when he was aged five because he was being mocked by children at school. Yadav says that his original name, and its continued usage among family members and friends, reflects a familial response to the murder of his grandfather in a communal riot in 1936. Academics and research Before joining CSDS, he was an assistant professor of Political Science at Panjab University, Chandigarh (1985-1993). Between 1995–2002, Yadav was the founder-convenor of the Lokniti network. He was also founder-director of the CSDS Lokniti research programme on comparative democracy between 1997 and 2003. Since 1996, he has been a psephologist and political commentator on a number of television channels in India including Doordarshan, NDTV and CNN-IBN. Yadav was appointed as a member of the National Advisory Council for the implementation of the Right to Education Act in 2010. He was appointed a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in 2004. Politics In 2011, Yadav supported the general aims of, and spoke publicly at events, during the nationwide anti-corruption protests and later joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), formed by anti-corruption activists. Yadav served as a member of the National Executive of the party. His involvement with the AAP was perceived as creating a conflict of interest with his July 2011 appointment as a member of the University Grants Commission, resulting in the Ministry of Human Resource Development ejecting him from the latter