Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, KC, SC, VSM (Retd) is an Indian politician and a former officer of the Indian Army . He is a BJP leader, earlier he was leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was the CM Candidate for 2022 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly elections. Kothiyal lost the election to BJP candidate in Gangotri Assembly constituency. In May 2022, he resigned from AAP and joined BJP. He is also a mountaineer and philanthropist, and was the principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Uttarakhand.