Ritesh Pandey | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| Assumed office 23 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Hari Om Pandey |
| Constituency | Ambedkar Nagar |
| Member (MLA) of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly | |
| In office March 2017 – May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Sher Bahadur Singh |
| Succeeded by | Subhash Rai |
| Constituency | Jalalpur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 April 1981[1] Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Political party | Bahujan Samaj Party |
| Parent | Rakesh Pandey[1] |
| Residence(s) | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh |
| Profession | Agriculture, business, social work[1][2] |
Ritesh Pandey (born 3 April 1981) is an Indian politician serving as the Member of Parliament from Ambedkar Nagar constituency. He is a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from the state of Uttar Pradesh.[3] He was also a MLA from Jalalpur constituency in Ambedkar Nagar district, which he represented between June 2017 and May 2019 before elected as MP in (Lok Sabha).[4] He was appointed the Leader of the BSP in the Lok Sabha in January 2020.[5] Prior to this appointment, he served as the Deputy Leader.[6]
Pandey was born in Lucknow on 3 April 1981 to politician Rakesh Pandey and Manju Pandey.[7] His father is a former Member of Parliament from Ambedkar Nagar. His older brother, Ashish Pandey is a real estate businessman.[8][9] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in international business management from the European Business School in London in the year 2005.[2][9]
In the 2019 Indian Parliamentary Elections, Pandey won the Lok Sabha polls from Ambedkar Nagar by defeating his closest rival from the BJP, Mukut Bihari, with a winning margin of 95880 votes.[10] In the assembly elections of 2017, he was elected as a MLA from the Jalalpur constituency, with a victory margin of 90303 votes.[3] In 2012, Pandey unsuccessfully contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, losing to Sher Bahadur Singh from the Samajwadi Party.[11] Pandey has been ranked 19th in the Parliamentary Business Survey among 539 MPs in the country. He is the youngest MP to appear in the Top-20. Pandey has also got an excellent grade for the expenditure incurred on development works.[12][13] He also serves as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Papers Laid on the Table of the House.[14] In 2020, he became the Floor Leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party in the Lok Sabha, becoming one of the youngest parliamentarians to lead a major national party in Parliament.[15] Pandey is also an active member of multiple parliamentary committees such as the Standing Committee on External Affairs, the Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine the Personal Data Protection Bill,[16] 2019 and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021.[17]
Pandey is the chairman of the Raghuraji Devi Foundation Trust who works on reforming education and promoting youth cultural events. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Awadh Mutineers, a grassroots sports initiative that trains and supports underprivileged children for playing football.[18]