Gyan Singh Sohanpal
| Gyan Singh Sohanpal | |
|---|---|
| Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |
|
In office May 18, 2011 – May 30, 2011 | |
| President | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Governor | M. K. Narayanan |
| Preceded by | Hashim Abdul Halim |
| Succeeded by | Biman Banerjee |
| Constituency | Kharagpur Sadar |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Gyan Singh Sohanpal 11 January 1925 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Unmarried |
| Alma mater | Midnapore Collegiate School |
| Religion | Sikh |
Gyan Singh Sohanpal is an Indian politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress and a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He is affectionately known as Chacha Ji ("Uncle" in English) in his constituency of Kharagpur Sadar.
He contested his first election in 1962 and became a minister in 1969 in Ajoy Mukherjee’s cabinet, taking charge of Small Industries and Jails. In Siddhartha Shankar Ray’s cabinet, he was the Minister for Transport, Jail and Parliamentary Affairs. He has represented Khragpur since 1982, and in the 2011 election, he defeated Anil Kumar Das of the CPI(M) by over 32,000 votes. Following that election, he was the most senior Member of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal and served briefly as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He was sworn in as the Speaker by Governor M. K. Narayanan on May 18, 2011.