He represents the Mankapur (Assembly constituency) in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
[1] He is also elected as Protem Speaker of 18th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Shastri was born on 15 October 1952 in Bishnoharpur village of the Gonda district to his father Ram Laut who belongs to tanbina gotra of Kori/koli caste.
In 1996, after winning for the sixth time he was again appointed Cabinet Minister for Medical Health and Family Welfare Department in the BJP government.
[4] Since 2017, he has represented the Mankapur (Assembly constituency) in the Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh and is a member of the Bhartiya Janta Party.
In the 2017 elections, he defeated his nearest rival Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Ramesh Chandra Gautam by a record margin of 60,161 votes.