Aparupa Poddar
Indian politician (born 1986)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Afrin Ali née Aparupa Poddar (born 8 January 1986) is an Indian politician and a member of parliament to the 16th 17th Lok Sabha from Arambagh (Lok Sabha constituency), West Bengal.[1][2] She won the 2014 & 2019 Indian general election as an All India Trinamool Congress candidate.[3]
8 January 1986
Aparupa Poddar Afrin Ali | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 16 May 2014 – 4 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Sakti Mohan Malik |
| Succeeded by | Mitali Bag |
| Constituency | Arambagh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Aparupa Poddar 8 January 1986 Serampore, West Bengal, India |
| Party | All India Trinamool Congress |
| Spouse | Mohd. Shakir Ali |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Hooghly Mohsin College The University of Burdwan (M.A.) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad (LL.B) (LL.M) |
Controversies
The allegations relating to the first controversy, regarding financial corruption, were confirmed to be true on 5 October 2017, when she confessed that she had taken a bribe from Narada News boss Mathew Samuel as part of Narada sting operation.[4]
The allegations regarding the second controversy are regarding her religion. Born into a Hindu family and named Aparupa Poddar at birth, she married a Muslim man. She then stood for election from a parliamentary constituency which is reserved for those belonging to the scheduled castes. The Bharatiya Janata Party lodged a complaint with the Election Commission seeking cancellation of her candidature on the plea that she had converted to Islam and hence she did not belong to a scheduled caste. Aparupa Poddar then claimed, that she had changed her name but not her religion.[5]
