Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, who will be turning 60 on July 15, has been elected from the Hardwar Lok Sabha constituency for the second time. At the age of 50, he became the fifth and the youngest chief minister of Uttarakhand in 2009 and held the position until 2011.
Pokhriyal won the election to the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly three times in a row in 1991, 1993 and 1996 from Karanprayag, when Uttarakhand was still a part of Uttar Pradesh.
He was cabinet minister for hill development in 1997 and in 1998 became UP’s culture minister.
Pokhriyal won the Haridwar seat with a margin of 258,729 votes over Congress candidate Ambrish Kumar. He has written several poems, novels and short stories and has other literary works to his credit. His wife, Kusum Kanta Pokhriyal, passed away in 2012. He has three daughters.