New Delhi: A former IAS officer in Punjab and two-time MLA from the Phagwara Assembly constituency, Som Parkash is a first-time MP elected from the Hoshiarpur (SC) constituency. Parkash was sworn in as a Union minister of state on Thursday. Som Prakash is the new Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

A prominent Dalit face in Punjab's Doaba region, Som Parkash defeated Congress nominee and legislator Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur by just 48,530 votes. The BJP had benched its sitting MP Vijay Sampla and fielded Parkash from the constituency. Parkash, who had taken premature retirement from the IAS to join the BJP, had unsuccessfully fought from the Hoshiarpur seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. He had lost by a very thin margin.