As an MP, 'Nishank' registered his first victory in 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Haridwar and again won in 2019 from the seat by defeating Congress's Ambirsh Kumar a margin of 258,729 votes and bagging 6,65,674 votes.
In 2014, he had defeated Congress's Renuka Rawat, wife of former state Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
A journalist and writer by profession, Nishank is son of a gardener, who started his political journey as a BJP worker and got elected as an MLA from Karnaprayag in 1991.
He got further elected in 1993 and 1996 from the same constituency. He became a minister in state government in 2000 and held the several portfolios including Finance, Revenue, Planning, Culture and Religion.
In 2009, he was elected as Chief Minister of the state and held the post till 2011. He was asked to resign by the top BJP leadership as Uttarakhand Chief Minister paving the way for B.C. Khanduri to take over the top post.
Gadkari, who was then BJP President, on Thursday shared the dias of ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan with Nishank.
Rmaesh Pokhriyal was born in the village of Pinnani village in the Pauri Garhwal district in the state of Uttarakhand. He has spent early days of his life in Uttarakhand and completed his academics from here only.
( With inputs from IANS )