Praveen Kumar Nishad

Praveen Kumar Nishad is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Lok Sabha constituency of Sant Kabir Nagar in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha constituency comprises legislative assembly seats of Alapur, Menhdawal, Khalilabad, Dhanghata, and Khajani. Sant Kabir Nagar has been retained by BJP since 2014. Earlier to that, the seat was won by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2009 and 2004. In 1999, the seat was won by Samajwadi Party (SP).

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Praveen Kumar Nishad defeated his nearest rival Bhishma Shankar Tiwari of BSP by a margin of around 35k votes. It was a close contest, as most other opposition parties had formed an alliance against BJP. BSP and SP were the largest parties in this alliance. However, the alliance wasn’t able to achieve the desired numbers in the elections.

Early Life and Education

Praveen Kumar Nishad was born on October 01, 1988 to Shri Sanjay Kumar Nishad and Smt. Malti Devi. He was born in Gorakhpur, UP. Nishad is a mechanical engineer and had studied at NIET, UPTU, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He is married to Reetika Sahani.

Political Career

Praveen Kumar Nishad is among the youngest Lok Sabha MPs in the parliament. He got exposure to the political world at an early age, as his father is a politician. His father founded the Nishad Party, which represents various communities such as Nishad, Bind, Kewats, Kashyap, Mallah, Gond and Manjhi. These communities are traditionally involved in work around the rivers such as fisherman and boatman. Sanjay Nishad believed that these communities need proper political representation, as they have played a crucial role in elections. This thought formed the basis for starting the Nishad Party.

Praveen Kumar Nishad’s first big break came in 2018 when he won Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat in 2018 by-poll. This seat was vacated by Yogi Adityanath, as he became the CM of Uttar Pradesh. Nishad defeated his nearest rival Upendra Dutt Shukla of BJP by a margin of around 20k votes. In 2019, Nishad Party joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

• 14 March 2018: Elected to 16th Lok Sabha in a bye-election
• May, 2019: Re-elected to 17th Lok Sabha (2nd term)
• 13 Sept. 2019 onwards: Member, Standing Committee on Energy; Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries

Personal Pursuits

Praveen Kumar likes to keep updated with recent news in the country and internationally as well. He remains committed to serve the communities he represents.