Sharad Yadav (1 July 1947 – 12 January 2023) was an Indian politician from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party. He was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times and to the Rajya Sabha four times from JD(U). He was the first national president of Janata Dal (United), serving from its formation in 2003 until 2016. He was disqualified from the Rajya Sabha in 2017 and removed from party leadership positions for engaging in anti-party activities. Early life and education Yadav was born on 1 July 1947 to Nand Kishore Yadav and Sumitra Yadav in Babai village in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Robertson College Jabalpur which branched into Government Science College, Jabalpur. He also earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from Jabalpur Engineering College, where he was a gold medalist. Political career Yadav's involvement with politics started from 1970 onwards when he became the president of Jabalpur University Student Association. He was active in the Bihar Student Movement and was greatly influenced by the socialist ideas of Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. He was jailed by the Jabalpur police in 1972 and 1975 due to his involvement with the student movement. Member of Parliament Yadav was elected to the Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, seven times across constituencies in three different states – four times from Madhepura in Bihar, twice from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and once from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, which is a rare feat. Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time at the age of 27 from Jabalpur in 1974 in a by-poll after the death of incumbent Seth Govind Das. At a time when the JP Movement was at its peak, he won the by-poll for Bharatiya Lok Dal while still in jail. In the 1977 general election, he was re-elected from the same constituency under the newly formed Janata Party. He became the President of Yuva Lok Dal in 1978. When the Janata Party split in 1979, he sided with Charan Singh's faction. When Rajiv Gandhi first entered the Lok Sabha by winning a by-poll from Amethi in 1981, Sharad Yadav was the losing candidate for Lok Dal. He contested the 1984 general election as a Lok Dal candidate from Badaun, which he lost against Saleem Iqbal Shervani of Congress. He was elected as a Member of