Pushpa Devi Singh (born 18 May 1948) is an Indian politician who served on the

7th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 7th Lok Sabha, (18 January 1980 – 31 December 1984) elected December 1979 – January 1980. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India nine sitting members from Rajya Sabha were el ...

for the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

party. Pushpa Devi Singh was born into a Gond

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The te ...

Royal family of

Sarangarh Sarangarh is a New District in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. History During the British Raj era, Sarangarh State was one of several princely states governed by the Raj Gond dynasty of Rajputs. It was originally a dependency of the Ratanp ...

Raipur, Chhattisgarh Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

. She is daughter of Raja Naresh Chandra Singh of

, who had been Chief Minister of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

. She was educated at St. Joseph's Convent, Sagar and Maharani Laxmibai College,

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It ...

and

Vikram University Vikram University is located in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The university was named after the ruler Vikramaditya. It was established in 1957. It was evaluated by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and was awarded B++ grade ...

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjain ...

. In 1980, Pushpa Singh polled 53.76 percent of the valid vote to win election to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-pas ...

at age 31, making her one of that parliament's youngest members. Her nearest rival,

Narhari Prasad Sai Narhari Prasad Sai (1929 – 8 December 1999) was an Indian politician who was a member of the 6th Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. He was from Bandarchuan village near Kunkuri in the Jashpur State, India. Sai was elected f ...

Janata party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nat ...

, a minister in the Morarji cabinet, polled 21.97 percent of the vote. In 1984 she was again elected for the

party, to the

8th Lok Sabha The 8th Lok Sabha ran from 31 December 1984 to 27 November 1989. Politicians were elected in December 1984, taking office by the end of the month. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the bicameral Parliament of India. 9 s ...

. Her 62.51 percent vote share at this election, beating

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

candidate

Nand Kumar Sai Nand Kumar Sai (born 1 January 1946) is an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected to Lok Sabha, 1989–1991 and 1996–1998, from Raigarh (Lok Sabha constituency) when it was in Madhya Pradesh. In 20 ...

with 29.98 percent of the vote, was an unbroken record in her constituency until 2004. In 1989 General Election Pushpa Singh was defeated by

, when there was a wave against

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to bec ...

's Congress.
At elections to the

10th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 10th Lok Sabha, (20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996) elected during 1991 Indian general election held during May–June 1991. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India, four sitting membe ...

in 1991 Singh won again, with 53.13 percent of the vote, again beating

by then the President of the State BJP. Her victories in these three elections are the only occasions when Congress polled more than 50% of the votes in her constituency. In 1996 Lok Sabha polls, Nand Kumar Sai beat Pushpa Singh. Out of the 4 contests between the two, Pushpa Singh won 2 (1984, 1991) and Nand Kumar Sai won (1989, 1996) twice. She is an active member of the Indian

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

and lives at Girivilas Palace in

, Chhattisgarh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Pushpa Devi 1948 births Living people Vikram University alumni India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1991–1996 People from Raigarh district Women in Chhattisgarh politics Lok Sabha members from Chhattisgarh People from Ujjain Indian National Congress politicians from Chhattisgarh Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Chhattisgarh 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Women members of the Lok Sabha