Vasudev Sunil Kumar (born 15 August 1975) is an Indian politician from Karnataka. He is the

member of the 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 nation ...

from

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 ...

representing Karkala Assembly constituency. He served as

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

of BJP Government in

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly (formerly the Mysore Legislative Assembly) is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature ...

. In November 2020, he was appointed the co-incharge of BJP in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Political career

Sunil Kumar started his political career as a leader of the student wing of the RSS, the

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is a student organization in India, registered as a Non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1949. It's a significant student union with over 5 million members, making it one of the largest student or ...

. Later he joined

in the year 2004. In the

2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election The 2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election took place on 20 April and 26 April 2004 in 224 constituencies in Karnataka, India. The elections were conducted to elect the government in the state of Karnataka for the next five years. The vot ...

he contested against the incumbent member H. Gopal Bhandary of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and he was elected to

from

Karkala Karkala ( ) ( ) is a town and the headquarters of eponymous Karkala taluk in the Udupi district of Karnataka state in India. It lies near the foothills of the Western Ghats, Karkala has a number of natural and historical landmarks, and is a m ...

constituency for the first time. He defeated Congress candidate by a margin of over 10000 votes. Kumar lost the seat to H. Gopal Bhandary in the

2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election The 2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election took place in three phases on 10, 16 and 22 May 2008 in all the 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka, India. The elections were conducted to elect a Government in the state of Karnataka for th ...

by a narrow margin of 1537 votes. Kumar later contested Udupi-Chikmagalur Loksabha by-election in 2012. The seat was vacated after D. V. Sadananda Gowda became

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 ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. He lost by huge margin against K. Jayaprakash Hegde of Congress. Kumar was elected as MLA from

Constituency in

2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election The 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election was held on 5 May 2013 to elect members from 223 constituencies in the Indian state of Karnataka. The election for the Piriyapatna constituency was postponed to 28 May 2013 due to the death of th ...

by defeating H. Gopal Bhandary by over 4000 votes. Currently he is serving as the

chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

of ruling party in

government. He was re-elected as the MLA from

Constituency by defeating H. Gopal Bhandary for the 3rd time with a margin of 42566 votes on 15 May 2018. In November 2020, he was appointed Co-incharge of BJP

by party president

Jagat Prakash Nadda Jagat Prakash Nadda (born 2 December 1960) is an Indian lawyer and politician who is serving as the 34th Minister of Health, 25th Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers since 2024 and 11th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 20 ...

. When BJP formed government under B.S.Yediyurappa in 2019, it was highly expected that Sunil Kumar will be made cabinet minister but his name was missing. His name was again ignored during cabinet expansion in January 2021. Sunil Kumar wrote a letter to State BJP Party president

Nalin Kumar Kateel Nalin Niranjan Shetty Kateel (born 7 December 1966) is an Indian politician who was the 9th State President of Bharatiya Janata Party of Karnataka from 20 August 2019 till 10 November 2023 and Member of Parliament from Dakshina Kannada cons ...

expressing displeasure. He was later sworn in as a cabinet minister, under

Basavaraj Bommai Basavaraj Somappa Bommai (born 28 January 1960) is an Indian politician and engineer who is currently serving as the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (India), MP of Haveri Lok Sabha constituency, Haveri and previously served as the 23rd Chief Mi ...

in August 2021. He was given the energy ministry and the ministry for Kannada and culture. He was re-elected as the MLA from

for the fourth time in May 2023, defeating Uday Shetty of the Indian National Congress (INC) with a lead of 4,602 votes.

Personal life

Sunil Kumar married Priyanka and they have 3 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, V. Sunil Living people People from Chikmagalur district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Karnataka MLAs 2004–2007 1975 births Karnataka MLAs 2018–2023 Karnataka MLAs 2023–2028