Ajay Chandrakar (born 24 June 1963) is an Indian politician from Chhattisgarh. He is a five time MLA and a former Cabinet Minister inGovernment of Chhattisgarh. He won the 2023 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election fromKurud Assembly constituency representing theBharatiya Janata Party.^[1][2]

Chandrakar is fromKurud, Dhamtari District, Chhattisgarh. He is the son of late Kaliram Chandrakar. He completed his graduation from SBR College inBilaspur. He later did MA in Hindi literature in1986 at Durga Mahavidyalaya, Raipur which is affiliated withPandit Ravishankar Shukla University.^[3] His discontinued his research on plays ofVishnu Prabhakar due to political agitation during his student days.^{[citation needed]}

Chandrakar started his political life as a student leader. He first became an MLA winning the1998 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election representing theBharatiya Janata Party. He retained the seat for the BJP, in the first election after the formation of the new state. He won the2003 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election defeating Deepa Sahu of theIndian National Congress by a thin margin of 2,709 votes. Later, he lost the 2008 Assembly election to Lekhram Sahu of Congress but regained the seat and won consecutively three terms in2013,2018 and2023.^[4] In 2023, he polled 94,712 votes and defeated his nearest rival, Tarni Neelam Chandrakar of the Indian National Congress, by a margin of 8,090 votes.^[5][6]

In 1987, he even spent 7 days in jail for participating in an agitation.^{[citation needed]} In 2003, he became a part of the Chhattisgarh government as a Panchayat and Rural Development Minister as well as a Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, he was also assigned the portfolios of Science and Technology, Technical Education, and Manpower Planning.^{[citation needed]} Later in 2007, he became the minister of higher education.^[7][8]

After he lost the 2008 Assembly election, he was made the head of the State Finance Commission. Later, he served as the party's vice-chairman and official spokesperson.^{[citation needed]}

He regularly conducts Jandarshan programmes and meets people of his constituency.^{[citation needed]}

He has been trying to get Sirpur, a world heritage site tag. He participates in the cultural and literary festivals held in Sirpur annually.^{[citation needed]}

Chandrakar was unanimously elected as President ofChhattisgarh Football Association in November 2014.^[9]

• Ajay Chandrakar official website
• Official Facebook

• Living people
• State cabinet ministers of Chhattisgarh
• 1963 births
• Chhattisgarh MLAs 2013–2018
• People from Dhamtari district
• Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Chhattisgarh
• Chhattisgarh MLAs 2018–2023
• Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1998–2003
• Chhattisgarh MLAs 2000–2003
• Chhattisgarh MLAs 2003–2008
• Indian football executives
• Chhattisgarh MLAs 2023–2028

• CS1 Hindi-language sources (hi)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2019
• Use Indian English from October 2019
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2024