Ritesh Pandey | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 23 May 2019 –4 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Hari Om Pandey |
| Succeeded by | Lalji Verma |
| 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] |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party (2024-present) |
| Other political affiliations | Bahujan Samaj Party (2019-2024) |
| Parent | Rakesh Pandey [1] |
| Residence(s) | Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh |
| Profession | Agriculture,business,social work [1] [2] |
| Website | www |
Ritesh Pandey (born 3 April 1981) is an Indian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament from Ambedkar Nagar. He was a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from the state of Uttar Pradesh. [3] Pandey resigned from Bahujan Samaj Party and joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in February 2024. [4] 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). [5] He was appointed the Leader of the BSP in the Lok Sabha in January 2020. [6] Prior to this appointment,he served as the Deputy Leader. [7] According to his election filing he has 30 crores as his assets. [8]
Pandey was born in Lucknow on 3 April 1981 to politician Rakesh Pandey and Manju Pandey. [9] [10] His father is a former Member of Parliament from Ambedkar Nagar. His older brother,Ashish Pandey is a real estate businessman. [11] [12] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in international business management from the European Business School in London in the year 2005. [2] [12]
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election,Pandey won from the Ambedkar Nagar as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate by defeating closest rival from the Bharatiya Janata Party,Mukut Bihari,with a winning margin of 95,880 votes. [13] 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. [14] 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. [15] [16] He also serves as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Papers Laid on the Table of the House. [17] 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. [18] 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, [19] 2019 and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021. [20]
Pandey resigned from BSP and joined the BJP on 26 February 2024, [21] and contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha election but lost to Samajwadi Party's Lalji Verma. [22] [23]
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. [24]