Sharada Puryanaik

Sharada Puryanaik (born 1971) is an Indian politician from Karnataka. She won the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election representing Shimoga Rural in constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste members. She won on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket. She defeated K. B. Ashok Naik of BJP by 15,142 votes. In 2018, she lost the election to Ashok Naik by a narrow margin of 3777.

In July 2023, she was elected as the deputy legislature party leader JD (S) in the house with H. D. Kumaraswamy being the Legislature party leader. This is the first time JD (S) elected a woman to this post.

Earlier in May 2023, following a complaint by the flying squad of the Election Commission, the Kumsi police booked a case against for allegedly using children in the poll campaign.