Venod Sharma

Venod Sharma (born 10 January 1948) is an Indian politician and the founder of the Haryana Jan Chetna Party (V). He was formerly a member of the Indian National Congress, which he represented as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (1992-1998) and as a Member of Legislative Assembly (2005-2014) from Ambala, Haryana.

Sharma was associated with Indian National Congress (INC) for 40 years.^[1] He was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an INC candidate from Punjab on 10 April 1992. He retired from that role at the 1998 elections.^[2]

In 1999, he resigned from the Indian National Congress during 1999 Indian general election after his son Manu Sharma was accused in the Jessica Lal murder case and he allegedly tried to bribe a witness.^[3] Sharma returned into Congress in 2004 and won the 2005 Haryana Legislative Assembly election from Ambala city. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 2009.^[4]

On 19 April 2014, Sharma was expelled from the Indian National Congress, allegedly for campaigning against it in the recent elections. On 2 May 2014, he resigned as a Member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly and on 23 June he founded his own political party, Haryana Jan Chetna Party (V).^[5][6][7] It was alleged that his decision to quit was motivated by a desire to protect his corporate interests.^[8]

Sharma and his wife, Shakti Rani Sharma, contested the 2014 Haryana state election and lost it to BJP candidates.^[9][10] There were allegations of Poll Code violations by Sharma during the elections.^[11]

Sharma is married to Shakti Rani Sharma. They have two son, Kartikeya Sharma and Manu Sharma, and one daughter.^[12][13]

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