# Harish Rawat

Harish Singh Rawat (born 27 April 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2014 to 2017. A five-time Member of Parliament, Rawat is a senior leader of the Indian National Congress party. As a member of 15th Lok Sabha, Rawat served as Union Minister of Water Resources in the cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2012 to 2014. He also worked as Minister of State at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (2011–2012) and Ministry of Labour and Employment (2009–2011).

## Early life and education

Harish Rawat was born in a Kumaoni Rajput family in Mohnari village (Adbora Mohnari Graam Sabha), near Chaunalia (263680), Ranikhet in Almora district of the United Provinces (now Uttarakhand) on 27 April 1948 to Rajendra Singh Rawat and Devki Devi. He studied from GIC Chaunalia in his early days. He received a Bachelor of Arts and LL.B. from Lucknow University. He is married to his fellow Congress member and politician Renuka Rawat who also obtained Bachelor of Law from Lucknow University.

## Early political career

Starting at village level politics, and after staying as a trade unionist and an Indian Youth Congress member for many years, he joined the Indian Parliament in 1980 as a member of the 7th Lok Sabha by defeating the BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi from Almora parliamentary constituency, followed by the 8th Lok Sabha and the 9th Lok Sabha. He has been head of Congress Volunteer Wing, Congress Seva Dal, since 1980. In 1981, he along with Subramanian Swamy and 13 others led first pilgrimage to Kailash–Manasarovar after 1962 Sino-Indian War.

## Later years

In 2000, he was unanimously elected as President of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, and remained so until he was replaced by Yashpal Arya. In 2002, he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament.
In the 2009 general election, he left his traditional stronghold of Almora after it became a reserved seat post delimitation to contest from Haridwar, and won the election with over 3.3 Lakh of votes.

## Chief Minister of Uttarakhand

In February 2014, Rawat took the oath of office as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand when Vijay Bahuguna resigned due to criticism of his handling of rehabilitation after June 2013 floods. In July 2014, he won a by-election from Dharchula assembly seat by over 19,000 votes.
On 18 March 2016, nine Congress MLAs rebelled against Rawat, reducing the Congress-led Government to a minority. The Union Government decided to impose President's Rule in the state, and the order was signed by President Pranab Mukherjee on 27 March 2016. He was later reinstated as Chief Minister on 11 May 2016 after winning the trust vote. On 11 March, Congress under the leadership of Harish Rawat lost the 2017 Assembly Elections to BJP. He was also defeated from the two seats (Haridwar Rural and Kichha) from which he contested.

## Personal life

Harish Rawat is married to Renuka Rawat. They have three children together. Harish Rawat is also a member of the Congress Working Committee.

## Positions held

| Year | Description |
| 1980 - 1984 | Elected to 7th Lok Sabha Member, House Committee Member, Public Accounts Committee |
| 1984 - 1989 | Elected to 8th Lok Sabha (2nd term) |
| 1989 - 1991 | Elected to 9th Lok Sabha (3rd term) Member, House Committee (1989–91) Member, Committee on Official Language (1990–91) Member, Consultative Committee of Ministry of Communications (1990–91) |
| 2002 - 2008 | Elected to Rajya Sabha Member, Committee on Urban and Rural Development (2003–04) Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Power (2004–08) Member, Indian Council of Agricultural Research Society (2004–08) Member, Committee on MPLADS (Rajya Sabha) (2004–08) |
| 2009 - 2014 | Elected to 15th Lok Sabha (4th term) Union Minister of State, Labour and Employment (2009–11) Union Minister of State, Agriculture and Food Processing Industries (2011 - 2012) Union Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs (2011 - 2012) Union Cabinet Minister, Water Resources (2012–14) |
| 2014 - 2017 | Elected to 3rd Uttarakhand Assembly in by election 8th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (2014–17) |

## Electoral performances
### Lok Sabha

| Year | Constituency | Result | Vote percentage | Opposition Candidate | Opposition Party | Opposition vote percentage |
| 1980 | Almora | Won | 46.31% | Murli Manohar Joshi | JNP | 21.27% |
| 1984 | Almora | Won | 61.26% | Murli Manohar Joshi | BJP | 14.79% |
| 1989 | Almora | Won | 42.45% | Kashi Singh Airy | UKD | 39.39% |
| 1991 | Almora | Lost | 37% | Jeewan Sharma | BJP | 45.94% |
| 1996 | Almora | Lost | 26.59% | Bachi Singh Rawat | BJP | 41.05% |
| 1998 | Almora | Lost | 33.60% | Bachi Singh Rawat | BJP | 52.39% |
| 1999 | Almora | Lost | 45.50% | Bachi Singh Rawat | BJP | 48.39% |
| 2009 | Haridwar | Won | 42.16% | Swami Yatindranand Giri | BJP | 25.99% |
| 2019 | Nainital–Udhamsingh Nagar | Lost | 34.41% | Ajay Bhatt | BJP | 61.65% |

### Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly

| Year | Constituency | Result | Vote percentage | Opposition Candidate | Opposition Party | Opposition vote percentage |
| 2014 (Bye Elect) | Dharchula | Won | 72.83% | Vishnu Dutt | BJP | 24.75% |
| 2017 | Haridwar Rural | Lost | 33.28% | Yatishwaranand | BJP | 45.78% |
| 2017 | Kichha | Lost | 43.66% | Rajesh Shukla | BJP | 45.77% |
| 2022 | Lalkuan | Lost | 33.08% | M. S. Bisht | BJP | 53.23% |