Bishan Singh Chuphal

Bishan Singh Chuphal (born 13 May 1955), also knowns as Vishan Singh, is an Indian politician from Uttarakhand.[1] He is a six time incumbent member of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly^[1][2] from the Didihat constituency in Pithoragarh district and is a former cabinet minister of Uttarakhand^[3] He is from Bharatiya Janata Party and has served as the President of the Uttarakhand unit of the party. He is one of the few politicians who has not lost an election and is the only person to serve as member of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly in all the assemblies since its formation in 2000.

He is from Didihat, Pithoragarh District, Uttarakhand. He is the son of Narayan Singh, a farmer. He completed his M.A. in 1976 and B.Ed. in 1977 at Kumaun University, Nainital.^[4]

Chuphal is married. He has three children. His daughter Deepika Chuphal is the current Zila Parishad vice president of Pithoragarh district and an entrepreneur who gained recognition for leaving a job to start a spices business to create local employment. His elder son Deepak Chuphal is an advocate by profession. His younger son Shaurya Chuphal is a politician who is active in the BJP organization, serving as the State Co-Coordinator of the Social Media and IT Cell for the Uttarakhand BJP.^[5]

He was given the responsibility of BJP Mandal President in 1980. In 1982, he was elected unopposed as the head of his village. In 1983, he was elected as the Block Pramukh of Didihat Block. He served as the district president of BJP from 1984 to 1990 and then from 1994 to 1996. He came to be known as the people's struggler, due to his simplicity and dedication towards his people.

Chuphal first became an MLA winning the 1996 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election from Didihat Assembly constituency which was part of UP before the formation of Uttarakhand state. In 1996, he defeated then incumbent Kashi Singh Airy of UKD.

Later, he won the 2002 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election representing the Bharatiya Janata Party defeating Ghanshyam Joshi of the UKD. He retained the seat for the third time in the 2007 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election defeating Hem Pant of the Indian National Congress. He became cabinet minister in the Khanduri ministry and Pokhriyal ministry. He also served as the state president of BJP Uttarakhand from 2009 to 2013. He won the seat for the fourth consecutive time in the 2012 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election defeating Rewati Joshi, of the Indian National Congress. He again won the Didihat seat in the 2017 election beating Kishan Bhandari, an independent candidate. Later he became a cabinet minister in Tirath ministry and Dhami ministry. He won for the sixth consecutive time when he defeated Kishan Bhandari, an independent candidate again in the 2022 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election.^[6][7][8]