Santosh Gangwar

Santosh Kumar Gangwar (born 1 November 1948) is an Indian politician currently serving as the eleventh Governor of Jharkhand since 2024. He is a former Minister of State with independent charge in the Ministry of Labour and Employment in the Government of India. He was a Member of Parliament (16th Lok Sabha), former minister of state in Government of India and a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has been Member of Parliament for the city of Bareilly since 1989 till date (except 2009–2014). He was also the chief whip of the party in 14th Lok Sabha.

He faced defeat in the 15th Lok Sabha Elections, 2009 by a very narrow margin by Praveen Singh Aron. Gangwar was the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in 2009. He has been elected as Member of Parliament in 16th Lok Sabha. He won by a margin of over 2.4 lakh votes over his rival candidate in 2014 general election. He resigned from the post of cabinet minister ahead of the cabinet reshuffle in July 2021. He is formerly the Chairperson of the Committee on Public Undertakings.

Santosh Gangwar was appointed the Governor of Jharkhand by President Droupadi Murmu on 27 June 2024.

Born on 1 November 1948 in Bareilly, he studied in Bareilly College, Bareilly and did his B.Sc. in 1967 and LLB in 1970. At that time Bareilly College was an affiliated college of Agra University and Gangwar was awarded both BSc and LLB degrees from Agra University.

Before joining politics, Gangwar was actively involved in the establishment of the Urban Cooperative Bank in Bareilly and held the position of its chairman since its beginning in the year 1996. In Bareilly, he has been given credit for getting several projects executed for public use such as Chaupla Railway over-bridge, a library, and a mini bypass. Married to Saubhagya Gangwar, they have two children. He suffers from vitiligo.

Gangwar was jailed during the Emergency for guiding a people's movement against the then Government. He served as a member of the Uttar Pradesh State BJP Working Committee and held the position of General Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh BJP Unit in 1996.

Gangwar was elected for the first time to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from the Bareilly constituency. He represented that constituency continuously until 2009 as a BJP Member of Parliament, which involved six successive terms.

He has held ministerial posts in the Government of India. He was Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas with the additional charge of Parliament Affairs in 13th Lok Sabha. Prior to this, Gangwar was Minister of State of Science and Technology with the additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs during October and November 1999.