Rita Bahuguna Joshi

Rita Bahuguna Joshi is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Lok Sabha seat of Allahabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh. She is currently a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier she was with Congress party and had a long political career.

She joined BJP in 2016 and three years later, contested from Allahabad seat during the general elections. She defeated her nearest rival Rajendra Singh Patel of Samajwadi Party (SP) by a margin of more than 1.8 lakh votes. She garnered 55.62 percent of the votes, whereas her nearest rival got 34.89 percent votes. This was a significant win, as the opposition parties had united and contested the 2019 election under the ‘mahagathbandhan’ coalition.

Early Life and Education

Rita Bahuguna Joshi was born on July 22, 1949 to Shri H.N. Bahuguna and Smt. Kamala Bahuguna. She was born in Prayagraj, which is located in Uttar Pradesh. Her educational qualifications include M.A. and Ph.D. and she received education at Allahabad University. By profession, she was a teacher. She married Puran Chandra Joshi on November 25, 1976.

Political Career

Rita Bahuguna Joshi comes from a family with political background. Her father Hemwati was a MP, who had won the Allahabad seat in 1971. He was a member of the Indian National Congress, but had later joined Bharatiya Lok Dal. Her father was also the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1973-1974. Rita’s mother Kamala was also a politician and a Lok Sabha MP from Phulpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Kamala was elected as MP when she was part of the Janata Party in 1977.

With the advantage of her family’s political background, Rita was able to hone her political skills at an early age. During her political career, Rita has led a number of protests to help people who may have faced injustice. In one of such protests, she even had to spend time in jail. However, Rita never stopped speaking about issues that she felt need to be addressed by the ruling government.

• 1995 – 2000: Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
• 2012 – 2019: Member, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Two term)
• May, 2019: Elected to 17th Lok Sabha
• 13 Sept. 2019 onwards: Member, Standing Committee on Rural Development
• 9 Oct. 2019 onwards: Chairperson, Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament
• 21 Nov. 2019 onwards: Member, General Purposes Committee, Lok Sabha; Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Personal Pursuits

Rita Bahuguna Joshi has been associated with a number of social and cultural projects that seek to benefit the common man. In her free time, Rita likes to read and travel. She also likes to watch movies and listen to light music.