Gyan Singh Sohanpal (11 January 1925 – 8 August 2017), was an Indian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

affiliated with 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 Em ...

and a member of the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...

. He is affectionately known as Chacha Ji ("Uncle" in English) in his constituency of Kharagpur Sadar. He won his seat Kharagpur Sadar in 1969, 1971, 1972, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011. Since 1969, he only lost elections in 1977 and 2016 when he was 91 years old. He was MLA for 10 terms. He contested his first election in 1962 and became a minister in 1969 in

Ajoy Mukherjee Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 April 1901 – 27 May 1986) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the fourth and sixth Chief Minister of West Bengal. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Be ...

’s cabinet, taking charge of Small Industries and Jails. In

Siddhartha Shankar Ray Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Union Minister of Education (1 ...

’s cabinet, he was the Minister for Transport, Jail and Parliamentary Affairs. He has represented Khragpur since 1982, and in the 2011 election, he defeated Anil Kumar Das of the

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

by over 32,000 votes. Following that election, he was the most senior Member of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal and served briefly as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Legislative Assembly. He was sworn in as the Speaker by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

M. K. Narayanan Mayankodu Kelath Narayanan (born 10 March 1934) is a former Indian Police Service officer. He was National Security Adviser of India from 2005 to 2010, assuming the role after the demise of his predecessor Jyotindra Nath Dixit in January 2005. ...

on May 18, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sohanpal, Gyan Singh 1925 births 2017 deaths Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal Speakers of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Indian Sikhs People from Kharagpur West Bengal MLAs 1969–1971 West Bengal MLAs 1972–1977 West Bengal MLAs 1982–1987 West Bengal MLAs 1987–1991 West Bengal MLAs 1991–1996 West Bengal MLAs 1996–2001 West Bengal MLAs 2001–2006 West Bengal MLAs 2006–2011 West Bengal MLAs 2011–2016