Akhilesh Yadav (; born 1 July 1973) is an Indian politician and national president of the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...

who served as the 20th

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is the head of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minis ...

. Having assumed the chief minister's office on 15 March 2012 at the age of 38, he is the youngest person to have held the office till date. He is the incumbent Member of Parliament for

Kannauj Kannauj (Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: ) is an ancient city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar palika, Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Ut ...

in the

18th Lok Sabha The 18th Lok Sabha was formed after general elections were held in India over seven phases from 19 April to 1 June 2024, to elect all members from 543 constituencies of the Lok Sabha. The votes were counted, and the results were declared on 4 ...

. He is the parliamentary party leader of

. Earlier, he was an elected as the

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

for Karhal in the 18th Vidhan Sabha, before resigning and has also been the Leader of Opposition in the

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, also known as Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Indian state Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house. Member of the Legislative Assembl ...

from March 2022 to June 2024. His first significant success in politics was being elected as the Member of the 13th Lok Sabha in the year 2000 ( by-poll) for the

constituency. He is the son of

Mulayam Singh Yadav Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialism, socialist figure and founder of the Samajwadi Party. Over the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three t ...

, a veteran Indian politician and the founder of

who served as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

and served three terms as the

Early life and education

Yadav was born on 1 July 1973 in

Saifai Saifai is a large village and university town in the Etawah district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is also a sub-division (Tehsil) and Block (''Kshetra Panchayat'') of the Etawah district. It is the birthplace of Mulayam Singh Yadav, ...

Etawah District Etawah district is one of the Districts of Uttar Pradesh, districts in the western portion of Uttar Pradesh States and territories of India, state of India. Etawah town is the district headquarters. The district covers an area of 2311 km. ...

, Uttar Pradesh. He was born to Malti Devi and

, later

Chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. Malti Devi suffered complications while giving birth to Akhilesh which put her in a vegetative state. She died in 2003. With Mulayam Singh Yadav busy making a career in politics, Akhilesh was brought up mostly by his paternal grandparents. He completed his early education in a local school in Saifai and then one in Etawah town. He was schooled at Dholpur Military School in

Dholpur Dholpur is a city in the Dholpur district in Rajasthan state of India. It is situated on the left bank of the Chambal river. The city is the administrative headquarters of Dholpur district. Dholpur was established by King Dhaval Dev of the ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, then obtained his bachelor's degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

at the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

, Karnataka, India. Akhilesh Yadav also holds a master's degree in

environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...

from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, Australia.

Political career

Yadav was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha from

in a by-election in 2000. He was also a member of the Committee on Food, Civil Supplies, and Public Distribution. Yadav served as a Member of the Committee on Ethics from 2000 to 2001 and in 2004 was elected as a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the 14th Lok Sabha for a second term. He was at times a member of the following committees: Committee on Urban Development, Committee on Provision of Computers for various departments, Committee on Science and Technology, and Committee on Environment and Forests. From 2009 to 2012 Yadav was elected and served as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha for a second term. During this period he was a member of the following committees: Member of the Committee on Environment and Forests, Committee on Science and Technology, and the JPC on the

2G spectrum case The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government India were allegedly involved in selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditi ...

. On 10 March 2012 he was appointed leader of the

in Uttar Pradesh. On 15 March 2012, at the age of 38, he became the

, the youngest to hold the office. In May 2012 Yadav resigned from the Kannauj parliamentary seat to further serve as the

after his party won the Assembly elections. In the same month he became Member of the

Legislative council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the SP-

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

Alliance headed by Yadav was unable to form the government. He submitted his resignation to Governor Ram Naik on 11 March. The

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

s and 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections saw Yadav being elected to the parliament and state assembly simultaneously, with Yadav later retaining his state assembly seat, and thereby submitting his resignation in the Lok Sabha. In the

2024 Indian general election General elections were held in Elections in India, India from 2024 elections in India, 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect all List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha, 543 members of the Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the res ...

Yadav was elected to the

from

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

Yadav was sworn in as the 20th

on 15 March 2012, aged 38, winning 224 seats in the March 2012 assembly elections. During his tenure, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the most modern and longest expressway in India, was completed and inaugurated. Yadav also launched the "UP100 Police Service", "Women Power Line 1090" and "108 Ambulance Service". Infrastructural accomplishments of his government include projects like the

Lucknow Metro The Lucknow Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The metro is owned and operated by the Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC). The frequency of the metro's services is around 5 - 7 minutes. Alo ...

Rail, Lucknow International Ekana Cricket Stadium, Janeshwar Mishra Park (Asia's largest park), Jayaprakash Narayan International Convection Center, IT city. His chief ministerial tenure also saw emphasis on developing power sector, modernising the police force, setting up Kisan Bazaars and Mandis, introducing social welfare schemes such as Lohiya Awas Yojana, Kanya Vidya Dhan, Kisan Avam Sarvhit Bima Yojana, Pension Yojna and allotting unemployment allowances. Between 2012 and 2015, over 15 Lakh laptops were distributed to the 10th and 12th passout students by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, making it one of the largest distribution schemes by any government in the world.

Positions held

Akhilesh Yadav has been elected 1 time as MLA and 5 times as

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

MP.

Personal life

Akhilesh Yadav is married to

Dimple Yadav Dimple Yadav (née Rawat; born 15 January 1978; ) is an Indian politician and the incumbent Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, member of parliament from Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, Mainpuri of Uttar Pradesh. She has earlier been a member of ...

, a Member of Parliament. The couple has three children; two daughters: Aditi and Tina, and a son, Arjun. Akhilesh is a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

, agriculturist, and socio-political worker. He has a keen interest in sports, mainly football and cricket. His favourite pastimes are reading, listening to music, and watching films. Since Yadav became chief minister, his family was divided into two feuding groups, one siding with him and the other with his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav. Akhilesh had the support of his father's cousin,

Ram Gopal Yadav Ram Gopal Yadav (born 29 June 1946) is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh. He is the Secretary-General of the Samajwadi Party and the Member of Parliament (MP) in Rajya Sabha, since 2008. Yadav also served as Lok Sabha MP of Sambhal fro ...

, while Shivpal later went on to make his own political party, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), which ahead of 2022 elections again merged with Samajwadi Party, with Shivpal being elected as an MLA on a Samajwadi Party ticket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yadav, Akhilesh 1973 births Living people University of Sydney alumni People from Kannauj India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 1999–2004 People from Etawah district Chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh A Chief ministers from Samajwadi Party India MPs 2019–2024 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2022–2027 Leaders of the opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Samajwadi Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh