Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Vidisha
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Vidisha. Mr Chouhan, a five-time MP from Vidisha, was replaced by Mohan Yadav as Chief Minister last year after the party's mammoth victory in the Madhya Pradesh polls.
Here are five key points about Shivraj Singh Chouhan:
1) Born on March 5, 1959, to Prem Singh Chouhan and Sundar Bai Chouhan in Budhni town of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the age of 13. In 1976, as a 16-year-old, he participated in the movement against the Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
2) During his early days of association with the RSS, Mr Chouhan served as the convenor, general secretary, and a member of the national executive of the organisation's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). In 1988, he became the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Two years later, he was elected to the Madhya Pradesh assembly from Budhni constituency.
3) In 1991, Shivraj Singh Chouhan contested the Lok Sabha Elections and won the Vidisha seat. During his first stint as a parliamentarian, he served as the general secretary of the All India Janata Yuva Morcha and was appointed state general secretary of the BJP in 1992. Apart from that, he was a member of the consultative committee of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and a member of the Committee on Labour and Welfare. Mr Chouhan would go on to win elections from Vidisha in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004.
4) In 2005, Mr Chouhan became the state president of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and was sworn in as Chief Minister the same year. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, popularly known as 'Mama', was Chief Minister till 2018, when the BJP lost the assembly election to the Congress. The Kamal Nath-led Congress government which came to power crashed after 15 months as Jyotiraditya Scindia crossed over to the BJP with at least 22 MLAs. The coup brought Mr Chouhan back at the helm of the state.
5) In 2023, during the assembly elections, the BJP didn't declare a chief ministerial face but contested the polls under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The party won 163 seats, while the Congress was a distant second with 66 seats. After spending over 16 years as Chief Minister, Mr Chouhan made way for Mohan Yadav.