Lakshmi Hebbalkar

Lakshmi Hebbalkar
Lakshmi Hebbalkar
	Hebbalkar in 2020
Cabinet Minister, Government of Karnataka
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 27 May 2023
Governor	Thawarchand Gehlot
Chief Minister	Siddaramaiah
Cabinet	Second Siddaramaiah ministry
Ministry and Departments	Women & Child Development; Disabled & Senior Citizens Empowerment;
Preceded by	Halappa Achar
Member of the Legislative Assembly, Karnataka
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; May 2018
Preceded by	Sanjay Patil
Constituency	Belagavi Rural
Personal details
Born	28 May 1975 (age 49); Chikka Hattiholi, Khanapur Taluka, Belagavi district, Karnataka, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Ravindra Hebbalkar
Children	1
Alma mater	Mysore University)

Lakshmi Ravindra Hebbalkar (born 28 May 1975)^[1] is an Indian politician from Karnataka. She is currently serving as the Minister of Women and Child Development, and Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment in the Government of Karnataka. As a member of the Indian National Congress, she is an elected member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Belagavi Rural.^[2]

Personal life

Lakshmi Hebbalkar was born in Chikka Hattiholi, a village in Khanapur taluk of Karnataka's Belagavi district, into an agricultural family.^[3] She belongs to the Lingayats Sect. She is one of five siblings. She married agriculturist-businessman Ravindra Hebbalkar and joined the Congress party in 2004.^[4] She holds a master's degree in political science from Mysore University.^[5]

Political career

Hebbalkar held the position of general secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee for a brief period before being asked to head the Belagavi District pradesh Congress Committee in 2010 as its first woman president.^[6] She unsuccessfully contested from the Belgavi (Rural) Vidhan Sabha seat in 2013, and then from Belagavi Lok Sabha seat in 2014. In 2015, she was appointed the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee women's wing president.^[7] In the legislative assembly election that followed, she defeated Sanjay Patil of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was elected as a legislator first time, while contesting from the same constituency.^[8]^[9] Hebbalkar was quizzed for two days by Enforcement Directorate in September 2019 in connection with a probe into a money laundering case.^[10]

Hebbalkar was reelected to the assembly in 2023 and was appointed the Minister of Women and Child Development as part of the Siddaramaiah ministry.^[2]^[11]