Senior Congress leaders and MLA from Jawali Prof Chander Kumar took the oath of office of Pro-tem Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly in the presence of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan on Monday. Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri was also present on the occasion.

General Administration Principal Secretary, Bharat Khera, conducted the proceedings.

Chandra Kumar was born on May 8, 1944 at village Dhan, tehsil Jawali, district Kangra. His father was an agriculturist. He sought his higher education from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh University and went on to complete M.A., M.Ed. and B.A., L.L.B.. He worked as a trained graduate teacher at St. Beade’s College, Shimla and later resigned from his post, before entering politics.

Although he contested his first election as an independent candidate in the year 1977 and lost by a margin of less than 500 votes, his political innings began after he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly in the year 1982.

He again won in 1985, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2022. Kumar held the post of Deputy Minister of Health, Higher Education and Public Relations from 1982 to 1985, Minister of State for Forests (Independent Charge) from 14 April 1984 to March 1985, Agriculture and Arts, Language and Culture and Fisheries from March 1985 to 1989 Minister (Independent Charge), Irrigation, Public Health, Science & Technology and Technical Education from 1989 to 1990 and Forests from 1993 to 1998 and from March 6, 2003 to May 31, 2004.

A prominent leader of Congress party, he has also held high positions in the state Congress Committee including Treasurer, General Secretary and Vice President and has been a member of All India Congress Committee for many years.

Presently, he is the working President of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee.

While being the Forest Minister in Himachal Pradesh Government, he had banned deforestation for apple boxes and encouraged gardeners to use popular and carton boxes as an alternative, which is continuing well even today.

In the year 2004, he contested for the 14^th Lok Sabha from Kangra constituency on a Congress ticket and defeated the then Union Minister and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar.