Pooja Pal

Pooja Pal is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh. She was the wife of then Allahabad West MLA Raju Pal who was gunned down in broad daylight after defeating Ashraf Ahmad in the 2004 elections for the seat.

Pooja Pal
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2022
Preceded by	Sanjay Kumar
Constituency	Chail
In office 2007–2017
Preceded by	Khalid Azim
Succeeded by	Sidharth Nath Singh
Constituency	Allahabad West
Personal details
Born	(1979-07-25) 25 July 1979 (age 46)[1] Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Samajwadi Party (expelled) Bahujan Samaj Party
Spouse(s)	Brijesh Verma Raju Pal ​ (died 2005)​
Parent	Amrit Lal Pal (father)
Alma mater	Swami Vivekanand Subharti University[citation needed]
Profession	Agriculture

Subsequently, Ashraf Ahmad, who was named as the prime accused in the murder^[2] became the MLA in 2005. However, in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, Ashraf was defeated by Pooja Pal.

Pooja Pal has also filed a request for a CBI investigation into the murder of Raju Pal.^[3] When she nominated herself as a Samajwadi Party candidate from Chail in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, she mentioned her husband's name as Brijesh Verma,^{[4][5] [6]}then her inter-caste^[7] marriage became public.

She was elected on Samajwadi Party ticket from Chail in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. She was expelled from Samajwadi Party on 14 August 2025 for praising CM Yogi Adityanath for delivering justice to her and to women after the death of gangster-cum-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was an accused in the 2005 murder case of her husband.^[8]