Santosh Kumar alias Santosh Kushwaha is an Indian politician and a former Member of Parliament representing the

Purnia Purnia (; also romanized and officially known as Purnea) is the fourth largest city of Bihar and is emerging as the largest economic hub in North Bihar. It serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia divisi ...

constituency in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. He was first elected in the

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

, having run as the

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...

candidate in the constituency. In 2010 he was also elected as

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 ...

of the

Baisi (Vidhan Sabha constituency) Baisi Assembly constituency is an Vidhan Sabha, assembly constituency in Purnia district, Purnea district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Bihar. Overview As per Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies O ...

of Purnea district as a

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. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

candidate. One month before 2014 lok sabha election he joined

JD(U) Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a social-democratic and secular Indian political party, rooted mainly in eastern and north-eastern India, whose stated goals are promoting social justice and lifting ...

as he was nominated as the party candidate for

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 ...

election for Purnea constituency.

Life and political career

Born to Nevilal Vishwash and Ramsakhi Devi in 1976, Santosh's education was completed in Purnea from Surya Narayan Singh college, Rambagh. He has been an

agriculturist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the Agricultural science, science, practice, and management of Farming, agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, ...

and social worker before starting his career as a full-time politician. He has been an MLA of

Baisi Baisi is a City and Sub District in Purnia district of Bihar, India. Demographics According to government data, Baisi has approximately 1,319 households. All of which are classified as rural. The female-to-male ratio in Baisi is 95.72%, which ...

Purnea Purnia (; also romanized and officially known as Purnea) is the fourth largest city of Bihar and is emerging as the largest economic hub in North Bihar. It serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia divisio ...

Bihar before being elected as Member of Parliament in 2014. Further, he has been associated with various important committees of the Parliament and important posts within

. He has served as Member of Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, Committee on Private Members` Bills and Resolutions, Member of Consultative Committee, Ministry of Coal, Member of Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, Member, Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes, Member, Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas and Member of Rules Committee. In 2019, he was re-elected as Member of Parliament from Purnea Lok Sabha constituency for a second term. He is a follower of

Ram Manohar Lohia Ram Manohar Lohia ( 23 March 1910 – 12 October 1967) was an Indian political activist of the Indian independence movement and a socialist politician. As a nationalist, he worked actively to protest against colonialism, raising awareness of th ...

's ideology. He defeated Uday Singh Pappu in 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a large margin of over 2.5 Lakh votes. In 2019, Santosh was one of the nominee of

for ministerial post in new

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

ministry. However, JD(U) later decided not to claim ministerial birth due to fewer seats allotted to its members as ministers. In 2024 Indian General Elections, Kushwaha was repeated as the candidate of National Democratic Alliance from Purnia Lok Sabha constituency. Although

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...

fielded his former aide Beema Bharti, who was earlier a member of Janata Dal (United), against him,

Pappu Yadav Rajesh Ranjan (born 24 December 1967) popularly known as Pappu Yadav, is an Indian politician from Bihar, and a member of Parliament (MP) representing Purnia constituency in Bihar. Emerging from a background linked to crime, Yadav transitio ...

also contested the election as independent candidate. It was speculated that Yadav being a popular face in the region may make the contest triangular.

Controversies

2016 Awadhesh Mandal escape incident

Kushwaha was allegedly involved in helping Awadhesh Mandal, the husband of Janata Dal (United)

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 ...

, Beema Bharti to escape from police custody in Purnia. Mandal, a gangster, who was wanted in over hundred criminal cases, was also accused of being involved in a murder case, in connection with which, he subsequently threatened the widow of the deceased. After he was caught by the Police and taken to a police station in Purnia, Beema Bharti accompanied by Santosh Kushwaha and over hundred of supporters reached the police station. It was alleged that while Kushwaha was engaged in conversation with the police officials, Bharti helped her husband to escape in her SUV.

Personal life

In his election affidavit submitted to Election Commission of India before 2024 Indian General Elections, Kushwaha declared ownership of immovable assets valued in crores of rupees. He is also fond of guns and owns two licensed weapons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Santosh India MPs 2014–2019 Lok Sabha members from Bihar Janata Dal (United) politicians Living people 1976 births India MPs 2019–2024 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar People from Purnia Bihar MLAs 2010–2015

Life and political career

Controversies

2016 Awadhesh Mandal escape incident

Personal life

See also

References