Rizwan Arshad started his political career through
NSUI in 1995–96, when he was elected as the class representative, St. Philomena's College. In 1997–98, he was elected as Senate member,
University of Mysore. He served as President College Unit, NSUI (1996), Vice President Mysore District Unit NSUI (1997) and State General Secretary, Karnataka State Unit NSUI (1998) and National General Secretary in 1999. Rizwan Arshad was the Congress Candidate from Bengaluru Central in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but he lost to BJP candidate
P. C. Mohan. He secured 4,19,630 votes (39.05%) as against 5,57,130 (51.85%) by P. C. Mohan. On 10 June 2016, he was elected to the
Karnataka Legislative Council by getting 34 MLA votes, while the required quota to be elected was 29. As MLC, Rizwan Arshad was instrumental in getting funds for several developments and infrastructure in Bengaluru. Rizwan Arshad was the Congress-
JDS joint candidate for
Bangalore Central constituency for
2019 Lok Sabha Elections, losing once again against BJP's
P. C. Mohan. Rizwan Arshad received 5,31,885 votes (44.43%) in comparison to winning candidate
P. C. Mohan, BJP who received 6,02,853 votes (50.35%). Rizwan Arshad is MLA of
Shivajinagar Assembly after winning the 5 December 2019 bypolls. The bypoll elections were due to the disqualification of
R. Roshan Baig. == See also==