Balwan Poonia

Balwan Poonia is an Indian farmer activist and politician from Rajasthan, who serves as the MLA for Bhadra constituency as a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Poonia is the Joint Secretary of the Rajasthan unit of the All India Kisan Sabha and has been at the forefront of farmers agitations in the state. He has been involved in fights for lower electricity rates, fairer price for crops, debt relief, investments in irrigation, as well as insurance and pensions for farmers. In 2018, Poonia led a 58-day fight against excessive interest charged by State Bank of India to farmers in Chain Bari village in Hanumangarh district. The struggle culminated with Rs. 16,52,000 being refunded to farmers. In the 2018 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election, Poonia was one of two elected CPI (M) candidates on the strength of farmer mobilization. He won the Bhadra constituency defeating incumbent BJP MLA Sanjeev Kumar by over 23,000 votes.[1][2]

Poonia ran in the 2019 Indian General elections as the CPI (M) candidate for the Churu Lok Sabha constituency.[3] Poonia finished a distant third with 1.89% of the vole behind the BJP winner, Rahul Kaswan, who won with nearly 60%, and INC's Rafique Mandelia, who got 34.5% of the vote.[4]