Hari Shankar Tiwari (5 August 1933 – 16 May 2023) was an Indian gangster and politician. Tiwari was a member of 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 the village Tanda, Chillupar in Gorakhpur district.

Politics

Tiwari was the first gangster in Indian political history to have won elections from prison. Elected from Chillupar, he remained a member of the legislative assembly for years. In 1997, he was founding member of

Akhil Bharatiya Loktantrik Congress Akhil Bharatiya Loktantrik Congress was a regional political party in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was founded in October 1997 by Naresh Agarwal along with Jagdambika Pal, Atul Kumar Singh, Bacha Pathak, Rajeev Shukla, Hari Shankar T ...

along with Jagdambika Pal,

Rajeev Shukla Rajeev Shukla (born 13 September 1959) is an Indian politician, former journalist, political commentator and the former chairman of Indian Premier League. In 2015, he was re-appointed unanimously as the Chairman of IPL by the BCCI. On 18 Decem ...

Shyam Sunder Sharma Shyam Sunder Sharma is an Indian politician and a member of the 16th Legislative Assembly of India. He represents the Mant constituency of Uttar Pradesh and is a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party political party. Early life and education Shyam ...

and Bacha Pathak. Tiwari was a cabinet minister at the State Assembly in several governments, including the

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 ...

(

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 ...

) government (2003–2007). In 1997, he became the Transport minister in the

Kalyan Singh Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Utta ...

government. In 2000, he was the Stamp and Registration cabinet minister in

Ram Prakash Gupta Ram Prakash Gupta (26 October 1923 – 1 May 2004) was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Governor of Madhya Pradesh. He was a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as its predecessor party, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. A post-gra ...

's government. In 2001, he was appointed as Science and Technology minister in

Rajnath Singh Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician and lecturer who is serving the Defence Minister of India since 20 May 2019. He was also the Deputy Leader of the House, Lok Sabha since 2014. He also served the Home Minister in th ...

government. In 2002, he was the cabinet minister in

Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born Kumari Mayawati Das; 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1995 to 1995, 1997 to 1997, 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012. She is the national president of t ...

's Government.

Personal life

Tiwari Hata in Gorakhpur was the official residence of Harishankar Tiwari. His son Bhishma Shankar Tiwari, was Member of Parliament,

Sant Kabir Nagar Sant Kabir Nagar district is one of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. Khalilabad is the district headquarters. Sant Kabir Nagar district is a part of Basti division. The total area of Sant Kabir Nagar district is . Eco ...

seat west of

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...

. Another son, Vinay Shankar Tiwari, stood from

but lost to

Yogi Adityanath Yogi Adityanath (born Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht; 5 June 1972) is an Indian Hindu monk and politician. He is currently serving as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh since 19 March 2017, became the first to hold the office for two consecutive ter ...

by a margin of votes. He also lost a runoff election from

Ballia Ballia is a city with a municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The eastern boundary of the city lies at the junction of two major rivers, the Ganges and the Ghaghara. The city is situated east of Varanasi and about 380 k ...

in 2007 by 130,000 votes. He was an MLA from Chillupar from 2018 to 2022. Nephew Ganesh Shankar Pandey was a state legislator from Maharajganj. In 2010 he won the MLC election for the fourth consecutive time, and was the speaker of the legislative council. Tiwari was succeeded by Rajesh Tripathi. After that Vinay Shankar Tiwari won again from the Chillupar constituency in the 17th Legislative Assembly of

. The latter however lost to Tripathi in the

2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh from 2022 elections in India, 10 February to 7 March 2022 in seven phases to elect all List of constituencies of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 403 m ...

. Tiwari died of kidney failure on 16 May 2023, at the age of 89.

Positions held

Note: He also contested from same seat in 2007 and 2012, but lost.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiwari, Hari Shankar 1933 births 2023 deaths People from Gorakhpur Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1985–1989 All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) politicians Akhil Bharatiya Loktantrik Congress politicians Indian gangsters Criminals from Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1989–1991 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1991–1993 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1993–1996 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1997–2002 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2002–2007