Indra Pratap Tiwari

Indra Pratap "Khabbu" Tiwari (born 27 October 1970) is an Indian politician and a former member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He had represented the Goshainganj constituency as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the 17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh.^[1][2] He is a former member of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.^[3]

Indra Pratap Tiwari
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office March 2017 – December 2021
Preceded by	Abhay Singh
Succeeded by	Abhay Singh
Constituency	Goshainganj
Personal details
Born	(1970-10-27) 27 October 1970 (age 54) Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party (2016-present)
Other political affiliations	Bahujan Samaj Party (2012-2016), Samajwadi Party (till 2012)
Spouse	Aarti Tiwari ​ (m. 2018)​
Profession	Agriculturalist, social worker
Nickname	Khabbu Tiwari

Personal life

Tiwari was born to Krishan Gopal Tiwari on 27 October 1970 in the Faizabad city of Uttar Pradesh.^[4][5] He completed intermediate education from Bachhulal Inter College, Pura Bazar in 1989. Tiwari is an agriculturalist and social worker.^[1][4] He married Aarti Tiwari, a postgraduate from Gonda, on 31 May 2018.^[6][7]

Political career

A strongman of state politics, Tiwari started off as a student leader.^[3] In 2007, he lost as a Samajwadi Party candidate.^[3] In the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, contesting as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Goshainganj, Tiwari was defeated by Samajwadi Party's Abhay Singh.^[2][7]

Tiwari joined Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016, and went on to defeat rival Abhay Singh by a margin of 11,620 votes in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election for the Goshainganj seat.^[6][3][2] In December 2021, Tiwari lost his membership to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly after being convicted and jailed in October that year in a fake marksheet case.^[8][9] In the following 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, Tiwari's wife Aarti represented the party for the vacant seat, but lost to Abhay Singh by a margin of 13,079 votes.^[7][2]

Conviction and release

In October 2021, Tiwari, along with two others, was convicted in a 29-year-old case filed in 1992 by the principal of Saket College for taking admission in B.Sc third-year based on fake marksheets, despite failing in the B.Sc second-year examination in 1990.^[8][9] He was removed from his position in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and incarcerated.^[8][9] Tiwari was released on bail in September 2022.^[9]