Santosh Lad

Early political career

According to Lad's published biography, he began his political career through the Sandur municipal council in 2002.

He contested the 2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election from the Sandur constituency as a candidate of the Janata Dal (Secular). He defeated Congress candidate V. Y. Ghorpade, receiving 65,600 votes against Ghorpade's 30,022, a margin of 35,578 votes.^[8]

Lad subsequently joined the Indian National Congress in 2007.

Kalaghatgi

Following the 2008 delimitation of Karnataka's constituencies, Lad contested the Kalaghatgi Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket. He defeated BJP candidate C. M. Nimbannavar by 11,642 votes, receiving 49,733 votes.^[9]

In the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, Lad was re-elected from Kalaghatgi. He received 76,802 votes, defeating his nearest rival by more than 45,000 votes.^[10]

In 2018, Lad contested Kalaghatgi again but was defeated by BJP candidate C. M. Nimbannavar. Nimbannavar received 83,267 votes compared with Lad's 57,270, a margin of 25,997 votes.^[11]

Lad returned to the Assembly in the 2023 Karnataka election. He won Kalaghatgi with 85,761 votes, defeating BJP candidate Nagaraj Chebbi, who received 71,404 votes. The margin was 14,357 votes.^[12]

Ministerial career

Labour and Skill Development, 2016–2018

Lad returned to the Karnataka cabinet in June 2016 as Labour Minister during a cabinet reshuffle under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.^[17]

In 2017, he was given the additional charge of Skill Development.^[18]

As Labour Minister, Lad publicly supported women's participation in night-shift employment and opposed recommendations that women should be restricted from night work because of domestic responsibilities.^[19]

2013 Uttarakhand floods

During the 2013 Uttarakhand floods, Lad was assigned responsibility for coordinating rescue and relief operations involving stranded Kannadigas. Reporting from the disaster area described Lad and a team of officials, doctors and nurses providing food, water, medicines and evacuation assistance to stranded pilgrims.^[26][27]

The New Indian Express reported that the team had helped evacuate more than 1,000 pilgrims from Karnataka during the operation.^[28]

2023 Odisha train accident

Following the Balasore train accident in Odisha in June 2023, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appointed Lad to coordinate rescue and assistance for Kannadigas affected by the disaster. He was directed to travel to the site and assist injured people from Karnataka.^[29][30][31]

2024 Wayanad landslides

In August 2024, the Karnataka government deputed Lad to assist rescue and relief operations in Wayanad, Kerala, following devastating landslides. He camped in the affected area and coordinated with the Kerala government and Karnataka officials concerning people from Karnataka who were stranded or affected.^[32][33]

2025 Pahalgam Rescue Operation

At the time of Pahalgam terror attack April 2025, Santosh Lad was instructed to reach Kashmir and rescue people of Karnataka over three intense days, he coordinated the safe return of 177 Kannadigas from different parts of Kashmir.^[34][35]

Gig workers

In July 2023, the Karnataka government announced a free life and accident insurance cover of ₹4 lakh for gig workers, consisting of ₹2 lakh each for life and accidental insurance. Lad said the initiative followed representations from gig-worker organizations.^[38][39]

The Labour Department subsequently notified the health and insurance cover for gig workers, Lad said the department would develop a portal through which gig workers could apply for the scheme.^[40]

In 2025, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025. The legislation created a framework for registration of gig workers and aggregators, a welfare board and welfare fund, social-security obligations, occupational health and safety provisions, and dispute-resolution mechanisms.^[41]

The Act applies to platform-based services including ride sharing, food and grocery delivery, logistics, e-marketplace services, healthcare, travel and hospitality, and content and media services. The legislation allows a welfare fee to be levied on aggregators, with the rate to be determined under the statutory framework.^[42]

Minimum wages

In May 2026, the Karnataka government revised minimum wages by approximately 60 percent across 81 scheduled sectors. Under the revised structure, the minimum monthly wage for unskilled workers in the Greater Bengaluru area was reported at ₹23,376, while highly skilled workers were entitled to ₹31,114. Rates elsewhere in Karnataka ranged between ₹19,300 and ₹21,251 depending on location and category.^[43]

Lad described the revision as a long-standing demand of the labour community and said the revised framework was intended to provide greater economic security to workers in the unorganized and specified sectors.^[43]

Menstrual leave policy

In October 2025, the Karnataka cabinet approved a policy providing women employees with one paid menstrual-leave day per month, amounting to up to 12 days annually^[44] Lad described the measure as a progressive labour policy and said it was intended to support women's health and participation in the workforce.^[45]

The policy was subsequently implemented through government orders. In December 2025, Karnataka extended the paid menstrual-leave benefit to women government employees, including contractual workers.^[46]

Welfare of unorganized workers

The Labour Department under Lad has also pursued measures aimed at extending social-security coverage to workers outside conventional organized employment. In 2024, the state introduced the Ambedkar Karmikara Sahaya Hasta Yojane for additional categories of unorganized workers, with benefits including insurance and other forms of assistance.^[47]

In 2025, Lad proposed a ₹1-per-litre fuel cess to create a dedicated healthcare fund for unorganized workers. He said such a mechanism could generate substantial resources for worker healthcare and support a proposed health-card system.^[48]

Cinema and cultural workers

In July 2024, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Karnataka Cine and Cultural Activists (Welfare) Bill, providing for a welfare framework for workers in the cinema and cultural sector. The legislation included a proposed 2 percent cess on movie tickets and OTT subscriptions and provided for a welfare board.^[49]

Persons with disabilities

During 2025, the Karnataka Labour Department worked on a proposed legislative framework for reservations for persons with disabilities in education and private-sector employment. The draft framework proposed up to 10 percent reservation in educational institutions and 5 percent in private-sector employment, subject to legislative and policy processes.^[50]

Initiatives

Santosh Lad was appointed state representative to oversee the rescue operation in the worst flooded area of Uttarakhand,^[58][59] accompanied by a team headed by Hemanth Nimbalkar, Kari Gowda, and Naveen Raj Singh. After over ten days of rescue operations, the team was able to rescue everyone except 14 people for whom an extensive search was carried out.