Ashok Tanwar

Ashok Tanwar (born 12 February 1976) is an Indian politician who has served as the President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Member of Parliament from Sirsa and Secretary, All India Congress Committee. He is a former President of Indian Youth Congress and NSUI. He was the youngest person to become the president of Indian Youth Congress. On 3 October 2024, he rejoined Indian National Congress in the presence of Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.

Early life He was born in a Chamar family in Chimni, Jhajjar district, Haryana to Dilbag Singh and Krishna Rathi. He did his BA from the Kakatiya University, Warangal. He went to Jawaharlal Nehru University's centre for Historical Studies and completed his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. (Medieval Indian History).

Political career Tanwar started his career as an activist of the NSUI at JNU.

Youth politics Tanwar rose to prominence when he contested the election for the president of student union of JNU. He became NSUI's secretary in 1999 and its president in 2003. Under his leadership, the NSUI won two elections in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) since he took over in 2003 and improved its performance in the Left-dominated JNU.

During Ashok Tanwar's term as president, the Indian Youth Congress tried to strengthen its network at block, district and state level through workshops, seminars, street plays and social work related to the public issues.

Lok Sabha elections In 2009 he won the Lok Sabha elections from Sirsa in Haryana as a Congress party's candidate with a margin of 354999 votes. However he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as Congress Party's candidate to Charanjeet Singh Rori of Indian National Lok Dal.

President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee He became the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee on 14 February 2014. He was succeeded by Selja Kumari as party president on 4 September 2019. He quit the Indian National Congress on 5 October 2019.

Bharatiya Janata Party

On 20 January 2024, Tanwar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of former CM of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. He unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Indian General Election from the Sirsa losing to Kumari Selja of Indian National Congress by a margin of more than 2.50 lakh votes.

Return to Congress On 3 October 2024, on the last day of campaigning ahead of the Haryana Assembly election, Ashok Tanwar rejoined Congress

Personal life In June 2005, Ashok Tanwar married Avantika Maken, daughter of Lalit Maken and maternal granddaughter of former Indian President, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma. They have two children, one son and one daughter, Adikarta and Abhistada.

Positions held + Positions Held Period Position Jan 2005 - Feb 2010 President, Indian Youth Congress 2009 -2014 Elected to 15th Lok Sabha 23 Sep 2009 Member, Library Committee 2009 Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Environment and Forest 2009 Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee on office of Profit 25 Jan 2010 Convenor, Parliamentary Forum on Youth 18 May 2012 Member, Public Accounts Committee 29 Jun 2012 Member, PAC Sub-Committee - II (Railways)