✦ Celebrity stories, facts and career updates. Explore F4U now →

Home › Biography › Om Prakash Chautala

Om Prakash Chautala biographyFeatured Biography

Image source: StarsUnfolded

Celebrities

Om Prakash Chautala Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 1, 2026 • 6 min read

Quick Info

Date of birth1 January 1935

Age89 Years

BirthplaceChautala, Punjab, British India

ProfessionPolitician, Agriculturalist

NationalityIndian

Marital statusWidow

SpouseSneh Lata Chautala (died August 2019)

FamilyChildren: Ajay Singh Chautala, Abhay Singh Chautala; four daughters: Suchitra, Sunita, Anjali and one other; Father: Chaudhary Devi Lal

Om Prakash Chautala Biography

Om Prakash Chautala was an Indian politician and agriculturalist who served five times as Chief Minister of Haryana. Born in 1935 in Chautala, he built a长‑

Early life and background

Om Prakash Chautala was born on 1 January 1935 in the village of Chautala in what was then Punjab, British India. The eldest child of Chaudhary Devi Lal and Harki Devi, he grew up in a political family; his father later served as Chief Minister of Haryana and as Deputy Prime Minister of India. Education for Chautala was limited to school level: he completed up to the 12th standard and later—decades after beginning his political career—announced that he had passed his Class 10 and Class 12 exams at age 87.

Career

Chautala entered electoral politics in the early 1970s. He joined the Janata Dal and in 1970 won his first election to the Haryana state legislative assembly. Over the following decades he moved between state and national roles, including a period as a Rajya Sabha member from 1987 to 1990.

His most prominent public role was as Chief Minister of Haryana, a position he held on five separate occasions. He first became chief minister in December 1989 and went on to serve additional short tenures in 1990 and 1991. After victories and contests in the state assembly through the 1990s, his party adopted the name Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in 1998. With support from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Chautala became chief minister again after the 1999 elections, and he remained in that office following the 2000 state elections when the INLD and BJP allied to form a government.

Even when the INLD failed to form government in later elections, Chautala retained his assembly seat in both the 2005 and 2009 polls. His political trajectory changed after criminal convictions: in 2013 a court sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment in connection with teacher recruitment irregularities from 1999–2000. In 2022 a special CBI court convicted him in a disproportionate assets case and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment, along with a monetary fine; at that time he was reported as one of the oldest inmates in Tihar jail.

Public profile

Chautala was known as a senior leader of the INLD and for his long association with Haryana politics. Outside the political arena he identified as an agriculturalist and was described as having a preference for reading and music. Physically, reporting listed his eye colour as hazel brown and hair as salt-and-pepper. He practiced Hinduism and belonged to the Sihag Jat gotra.

Family and personal life

Chautala married Sneh Lata Chautala; she predeceased him in August 2019. The couple had six children—two sons, Ajay Singh Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala, both active in politics, and four daughters named Suchitra, Sunita, Anjali and one other. His father, Chaudhary Devi Lal, was a significant political figure whose roles included chief minister of Haryana and deputy prime minister of India.

Controversies and legal matters

Public records note several legal controversies involving Chautala across his career. In addition to the JBT teacher recruitment case that led to a ten-year sentence in 2013, he faced a conviction and sentence in a disproportionate assets case in 2022. The licensed record lists multiple criminal charges that were part of prosecutions over the years, including allegations related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. Another incident reported in the 1970s involved airport detention related to a wristwatch smuggling matter.

Latest updates

Om Prakash Chautala died on 20 December 2024 at his residence in Gurugram, Haryana. He was 89 years old and the reported cause of death was cardiac arrest.

During his later years, while serving court sentences, he reportedly made use of prison library facilities and continued to read widely. Members of his family have remained politically active, including his sons and a daughter-in-law who has contested elections.

Legacy

Chautala’s political career spanned several decades and included five terms as Haryana’s chief minister. His long tenure and the prominent public roles of family members have kept the Chautala name closely associated with the politics of the state. At the same time, his legacy is marked by the legal convictions that brought a contentious close to his active political life.

Editorial Review and Sources

This F4U profile is written from publicly available career and profile information, then reviewed for clarity before publication. If you spot an outdated detail about Om Prakash Chautala, send the page URL and a reliable correction source to f4udotin@gmail.com.

Reference context: StarsUnfolded
◈

Recent Work

Chief Minister of Haryana (multiple terms)

Served five times as the head of Haryana's state government across terms beginning in 1989, with subsequent tenures through 2000 and continued legislative service into the 2000s.

✦

Career Highlights

  1. Elected to the Haryana legislative assembly in 1970
  2. Member of Rajya Sabha from 1987 to 1990
  3. Served five terms as Chief Minister of Haryana
  4. Led the Indian National Lok Dal (formerly HVP) as a senior leader
?

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Om Prakash Chautala born?

1 January 1935

What is Om Prakash Chautala known for?

Politician, Agriculturalist

What is Om Prakash Chautala’s marital status?

Widow

Who is Om Prakash Chautala married to?

Sneh Lata Chautala (died August 2019)