R. K. Singh Patel

R. K. Singh Patel is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Lok Sabha constituency of Banda in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Banda Lok Sabha seat comprises assembly constituencies of Baberu, Naraini, Banda, Chitrakoot and Manikpur. Prior to his win in Lok Sabha election, Patel had served as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for three terms. He has also been minister and cabinet minister in Uttar Pradesh government.

2019 Lok Sabha election from Banda was quite interesting, as the top three contenders were earlier friends. All of them used to be part of Samajwadi Party (SP). The Banda 2019 election was primarily fought between Patel and Shyama Charan Gupta of Samajwadi Party. The third top candidate was Bal Kumar Patel of INC. The common thing between all these three candidates is that they all had won their first Lok Sabha election being a member of Samajwadi Party.

All three used to be together till 2009. After that, they started their own political journeys. Patel had earlier also won two assembly election on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. In 2014 general election also, Patel had contested on BSP ticket. However, he lost to Bhairon Prasad Mishra of BJP. Patel joined BJP in 2017 and contested and won from Manikpur assembly seat.

In 2019 Lok Sabha election from Banda, Patel defeated his nearest rival Shyama Charan Gupta by a margin of around 60k votes. This was a significant win, as the opposition had joined forces to take on BJP.

Early Life and Education

R K Singh Patel was born on July 03, 1959 to Shri Bhagwan Deen Singh and Smt. Ram Sakhi Devi. He was born in Balapur, Khalsa, Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh). Patel holds a bachelor’s degree in Arts and received education at University of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He married Shanti Devi Patel on January 11, 1978.

Political Career

• 1996-2007 & Mar. 2017-May 2019: Member, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (three terms)
• 1996-1997: State Minister, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
• 2002-2003: Cabinet Minister, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
• 2009: Elected to 15th Lok Sabha
• 31 Aug. 2009: Member, Committee on Health and Family Welfare
• 15 Mar. 2010: Member, Committee on Railway Convention
• March 2017 – May 2019: Member, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
• May, 2019: Re-elected to 17th Lok Sabha (2nd term)
• 13 Sept. 2019 onwards: Member, Standing Committee on Home Affairs; Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

Personal Pursuits

R K Singh Patel has interests in literature, cultural programs and events, music and art. In sports, he likes badminton, kabaddi, volleyball and carrom.