Prashant Kishor Pandey

Place: Madhya Pradesh

Biography:

Prashant Pandey, also known as Prashant Kishor Pandey, is an Indian activist, IT consultant, digital forensic engineer, and political strategist. He was born in Madhya Pradesh, India. Pandey is known for his role in the Vyapam scam investigation, where he worked as an IT consultant with the Special Task Force (STF). In 2014, he was arrested for allegedly using the records collected by the team to blackmail those accused in the scam. However, he denied the allegations and stated that he was being falsely implicated for trying to expose the involvement of senior state government leaders in the scam. Since then, he has alleged death threats and harassment by the police at the behest of the state government. Pandey came to wider public attention when Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election-campaign group he conceptualised, helped the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He has also worked as a political strategist for various political parties, including the BJP, JD(U), INC, AAP, YSRCP, DMK, and TMC. Before venturing into Indian politics, Pandey worked in public health programmes funded by the United Nations for eight years.