Shivraj Singh Chouhan (born 5 March 1959), is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the 17th and current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, having been elected to the same position 3 times in the past, and a Member of Legislative Assembly in Madhya Pradesh from Budhni. He previously served as the Chief Minister of the Madhya Pradesh, between 2005 and 2018, and holds the record as the state's longest serving Chief Minister. He was also former National Vice-president, member of the Parliamentary Board and a member of the Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party. As a leader of the BJP, Chouhan served as its

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

and president of its Madhya Pradesh state unit. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1972, as a 13-year-old. He is a five-time Member of Parliament, having represented Vidisha in the Lok Sabha, the lower House of the Indian Parliament, between 1991 and 2006. He is known for launching the schemes Ladli Lakshmi Yojana and Beti Bachao Abhiyan.

Early life and education

Shivraj Singh Chouhan was born in a

Kirar Thakur The Kirar is a Hindu agricultural caste whose traditional occupation is cultivation. They originated in Kiserkot of Jaisalmer and migrated to different parts of India. Singh noted that, they were a similar group like Kol and Bhil, and lived a ...

family to Prem Singh Chouhan and his wife Sundar Bai Chouhan in the Jait village of Sehore district, and belongs to the

Kirar The Kirar is a Hindu agricultural caste whose traditional occupation is cultivation. They originated in Kiserkot of Jaisalmer and migrated to different parts of India. Singh noted that, they were a similar group like Kol and Bhil, and lived a ...

community. He is a gold medalist in M. A. (

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

) from

Barkatullah University Barkatullah University is a state government university in Bhopal, India. Originally known as the ''University of Bhopal'', and informally as ''Bhopal University'', it was renamed in 1988 after the freedom fighter Professor Maulavi Barkatulla ...

Bhopal. He is an agriculturist by profession.

Early political career

His early political career can be defined as up to the point of his first election to the Lok Sabha. He was elected President of the

Model School A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models ...

Students Union in 1975. From 1976 to 1977, he participated in underground movement against the Emergency and was imprisoned in Bhopal Jail for some time. In his early political career, he has also been: * A convener of Akhil Bhartiya Keshariya Vahini from 1991 to 1992 * A Member of Committee on Labour and Welfare from 1993 to 1996 * A Member of Hindi Salahkar Samiti from 1994 to 2000.

Political career

Chouhan was first elected to the State Assembly from Budhni Constituency in 1990. He was elected a Member of Parliament for the first time in his career in

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 memb ...

from Vidisha Constituency in the following year. In 1996, he was re-elected to the

11th Lok Sabha General elections were held in India in 1996 Indian general election, April–May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force t ...

(his second term). He was Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development and Member of Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resources Development and Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development from 1996 to 1997 and Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development, General Secretary of BJP, Madhya Pradesh from 1997 to 1998. Again in 1998, he was re-elected to

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

(third term). He was Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development and its Sub-Committee on Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment from 1998 to 1999. His fourth term in the

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

was from 1999. He was member of Committee on Agriculture from 1999 to 2000, member of Committee on Public Undertakings from 1999 to 2001, and National President of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha from 2000 to 2003. He was also the Chairman of House Committee (Lok Sabha) and National Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party. The BJP swept Madhya Pradesh in the Assembly elections of December 2003. At that time, Shivraj Singh contested polls unsuccessfully against the incumbent Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh from Raghogarh. He was a member of Consultative Committee, ministry of Communications from 2000 to 2004. He was re-elected to

14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (17 May 2004 – 18 May 2009) was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian Nationa ...

(5th term) in 2004, with a margin of over 260,000 votes. He was member of Committee on Agriculture, member of Joint Committee on Offices of Profit, National General Secretary of BJP, Secretary of Parliamentary Board, and Secretary (Central Election Committee). He also headed Housing Committee of Lok Sabha, and was a member of Committee on Ethics.

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh

As the state BJP President, Chouhan was chosen to become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on 30 November 2005. He contested a by-election from Budhni assembly constituency the following year, winning his old seat by a margin of over 36,000 votes. In 2008, Chouhan retained his Budhni seat by over 41,000 votes, and with it, led the BJP to a second consecutive victory in the state. On 12 December 2008, he was sworn in for his second term. On 8 December 2013, Chouhan won Legislative Assembly elections from Budhni by the margin of 84805 from a candidate of Congress. He was also elected as Chief Minister of MP for a third term. On 12 December 2018, after failing to gain a majority in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh assembly election, Chouhan resigned as Chief Minister. He once again took oath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on 23 March 2020 after 22 Congress MLA's resigned along with Jyotiraditya Scindia resulting in the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.

Awards and recognition

2011: NDTV Indian of the year award - Leader of New India (development) 2016: Suryoday Manavta Seva Sanman award.

References

External links

Shivraj Singh Chouhan
(personal) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chouhan, Shivraj Singh 1959 births Living people Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party People from Madhya Pradesh India MPs 2004–2009 Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh People from Vidisha People from Sehore district India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1991–1996 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1990–1992 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 2003–2008 Madhya Pradesh MLAs 2008–2013 Lok Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh MLAs 2013–2018 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Madhya Pradesh Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members Madhya Pradesh MLAs 2018–2023