Haryana Assembly Polls: Rahish Khan, Punhana MLA

Hailing from a political family, Khan entered politics as the grass root level and fought Zila Parishad election in 2005. In 2009 he contested unsuccessfully assembly election. However, he won 2014 assembly election as an independent candidate. Later, he extended support to the BJP, which appointed him Chairman of State Waqf Board with minister of state status.

Rahish Khan is the Independent MLA from Punhana constituency of Haryana.

Hailing from a political family, Khan entered politics as the grass root level and fought Zila Parishad election in 2005. In 2009 he contested unsuccessfully assembly election. However, he won 2014 assembly election as an independent candidate. Later, he extended support to the BJP, which appointed him Chairman of State Waqf Board with minister of state status.

Educational qualification: 10

Assets declared in 2014: ₹4.30 crore

Moveable: ₹20 lakh

Immoveable: ₹4.10 crore

Constituency primer:

Punhana is a town of Nuh district in Mewat region of Haryana. This segment is a part of Gurgaon parliamentary seat and is dominated by the Meo-Muslim community. Different Hindu communities also have a sizable presence across the constituency.

Electoral history:

2014: Rahish Khan was polled 34,281 votes, while his nearest rival Mohammed Ilyas of INLD 31,140 votes.

2009 INLD’s Mohammed Ilyas got 18865 votes against his nearest rival Dayawati of BSP who got 16,177 votes

How he performed:

In past five years, Khan claims, development reached every corner of his constituency even as not many agrees with the MLA. He says after almost five decades wait a women college and ANM college for nurses training were opened. The state government also upgraded 22 schools, besides setting up new Pinangwan bloc and two new police stations. It also installed new regulatory mechanism on the Ujhina drain to improve water supply for cultivation. The Mewat feeder canal, which has been approved at a cost of ₹750 crore will play an important role in providing water for agriculture. The important projects that could not be taken up includes a university for Mewat, more industry and business that would have generated employment and four laning of major roads to Hodal and Rajasthan border.

Quote:This government has done more for Mewat and my constituency Punhana than I had expected. This area lacked amenities such as roads, water, medical, education, but the situation improved a lot in five years. There has been a fair distribution of development funds which never happened earlier.

By the way: He cannot prove having passed matric as he has lost the certificate.