Shobha Rani Kushwaha

Shobha Rani Kushwaha is an Indian politician and a member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Dholpur Assembly constituency which she won in the 2017 bypolls which were necessiated after her husband Banwari Lal Kushwaha was convicted. She later won the 2018 election on BJP ticket and 2023 election on Congress ticket.

Personal life
Shobharani Kushwaha has done Post Graduate and she primarily belongs to Uttar Pradesh. Her ancestral home is in Jhansi, and she is married to Banwari Lal Kushwaha, who is a resident of Jamalpur village of Dholpur district in Rajasthan. She belongs to Kushwaha community. One of her brother-in-law, the younger brother of her husband— Balkishan Kushwaha is a son-in-law of former cabinet minister of Madhya Pradesh, Narayan Singh Kushwah, who led Other Backward Class wing of Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh previously.

Political career
Kushwaha joined active politics after her husband B.L Kushwaha was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case, said to be honour killing. He was an MLA of Dholpur Assembly constituency having won the 2013 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Election on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. After his seat was cancelled, she contested and won the 2017 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly bye election on Bharatiya Janata Party. In the bypolls of 2017, after counting of votes in second round she started leading and her opponent, the Indian National Congress candidate, Banwari Lal Sharma started trailing behind her. Securing 91,548 votes she defeated Congress candidate Sharma, who polled 52,875 votes.

Later, she won the 2018 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Election as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and went on to win for the third time in 2023 but on Congress ticket.

There were allegations that Shobha's husband, B.L Kushwaha influenced the voters in favour of his wife from the prison. The bypoll saw both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Vasundhara Raje, then Chief Minister of Rajasthan and former Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot campaign in favour of their respective candidates. It is reported that caste factor and the votes Kushwaha and Brahmin community played a crucial role in deciding the result.

However, during her campaign in Jheel Ka Pura village, her supporters were attacked by locals, who pelted stones at them. It was reported that the village itself was against her husband, B.L Kushwaha, as he was convicted in the murder of a youth from the village. But Kushwaha retained her seat from Dholpur and won the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly polls.

Controversy
In 2022, she was expelled from Bharatiya Janata Party after she had cross voted in favour of Indian National Congress candidate in Rajya Sabha election from Rajasthan. Polls were held for four seats in Rajasthan and Kushwaha voted in favour of Indian National Congress candidate Pramod Tiwari, going against her party line. In a statement later, she justified her move, saying that it was based on her conscience. Subsequently, she was expelled from BJP. For her move, she was later praised by Ashok Gehlot, who had become the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan, after 2018 Assembly polls, replacing Vasundhara Raje.

After being expelled from BJP, Kushwaha soon became critical of BJP leadership. She also participated in several caste assemblies. In 2023, she even participated in 'Mali Mahasangam', a caste meeting of Mali caste, organised in Jaipur, alongside Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya.

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