Awadhesh Prasad

Awadhesh Prasad
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 June 2024
Preceded by	Lallu Singh
Constituency	Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office 10 March 2022 – 11 June 2024
Preceded by	Baba Gorakhnath, BJP
Succeeded by	TBD
Constituency	Milkipur (SC)
In office 2012–2017
Preceded by	Anand Sen Yadav
Succeeded by	Baba Gorakhnath, BJP
Constituency	Milkipur (SC)
In office 1993–2012
Preceded by	Ramu Priyadarshi, BJP
Succeeded by	Delimitation
Constituency	Sohawal (SC)
In office 1985–1991
Preceded by	Madho Prasad, INC(I)
Succeeded by	Ramu Priyadarshi, BJP
Constituency	Sohawal (SC)
In office 1977–1980
Preceded by	Hub Raj, INC
Succeeded by	Madho Prasad, INC(I)
Constituency	Sohawal (SC)
Personal details
Born	(1945-07-31) 31 July 1945 Bikapur, United Provinces, British India (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Political party	Samajwadi Party
Spouse	Sona Devi ​ (m. 1972)​
Children	7
Residence	Sahadatt Ganj, Sadar, Ayodhya
Alma mater	Lucknow University (LLB, 1968) DAV College, Kanpur, Agra University (MA, 1966)

Awadhesh Prasad (born 31 July 1945) is an Indian politician who is a founding member of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and an MP in the 18th Lok Sabha representing Faizabad. He is presently the general secretary of the national executive of SP and he was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly till 11 June 2024 when he was elected as an MP. He has been a nine time MLA elected from the erstwhile Sohawal (SC) constituency in 1977, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1996, 2002 and 2007 and as of latest from Milkipur (SC) in 2012 and 2022. He has become a minister for six times in the Government of Uttar Pradesh and been a cabinet minister in four of them.

Political career

Prasad, who comes from Pasi Dalit community, began his political career at the age of 21. He was the Ayodhya district co-convener of the anti-Emergency Sangarsh Samiti. He was also the polling agent of the Lok Dal at Amethi during the 1977 Indian general election. He became the national secretary and was inducted into the central parliamentary board when the Samajwadi Party was founded in 1992. In the party, he has generally functioned as an organisation man since then.

He became minister in the Janata Party governments of Ram Naresh Yadav and Babu Banarasi Das and in the Samajwadi Party governments of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav. He has a close association with the party president Akhilesh Yadav and was one of the few veteran leaders to have sided with him during the pre-2017 election leadership contest within the party.

In the 2024 Indian general election Prasad won as the Member of Parliament from the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency. This win has been seen as of deep interest within the 2024 Indian general election because it encompasses the city of Ayodhya where resides the Ram Temple which was set-up in the previous term (2019-2024). Analysts credited his win to failure of BJP's Abki Baar 400 Paar slogan and Samajwadi Party's strategy of leveraging social politics by capitalizing on the significant OBC voter base, including Kurmis and Yadavs, aligning OBCs, Dalits, and Muslims to edge out the BJP.

Electoral record

Legislative Assembly

Year	Party		Constituency Name	Result	Votes gained	Vote share%	Margin
1974		BKD	Sohawal	Lost	18,879	34.70%	689
1977		JP		Won	28,090	58.42%	10,578
1980		JP(S)		Lost	21,932	40.72%	4,071
1985		LD		Won	27,373	46.29%	9,147
1989		JD		Won	29,413	33.91%	10,032
1991		JP		Lost	22,047	24.90%	9,643
1993		SP		Won	59,115	51.77%	16,496
1996				Won	44,399	35.17%	3,407
2002				Won	43,398	35.36%	8,156
2007				Won	48,624	33.08%	9,871
2012			Milkipur	Won	73,804	42.24%	34,237
2017				Lost	58,684	29.77%	28,276
2022				Won	103,905	47.99%	13,338

Lok Sabha

Year	Party		Constituency Name	Result	Votes gained	Vote share%	Margin
1996		SP	Akbarpur	Lost	169,046	27.12%	30,749
2024			Faizabad (Ayodhya)	Won	554,289	48.59%	47,935