Rizwan Arshad is the son of R Q Arshad who was an Advocate and attempted to become an MLA as a Congress nominee in Mysore City by contesting against Azeez Sait[8] but was defeated 4 consecutive times.[9] His mother, Shehnaz Arshad, has an MA in English Literature. He has two siblings: Humaira and Safiya. He is married to Najeeha and has three children, Faizan Afzan and Farzaan{citation needed|date=August 2021}}
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.[10]
He continued his career with Indian Youth Congress as vice president, Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (2004-2010) and National Secretary, Indian Youth Congress New Delhi (2010- 2011).
In 2011, Rizwan became the first elected State President of Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress (KPYCC) with a decisive margin. In 2014, he was re-elected as President of KPYCC by garnering whopping 21,000 of 29,000 votes.[11]
Rizwan Arshad was the Congress Candidate from Bengaluru Central in 2014 Lok Sabha elections,[12] but he lost to BJP candidate P. C. Mohan.[13] He secured 4,19,630 votes (39.05%) as against 5,57,130 (51.85%) by P. C. Mohan.[14]
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.[15][16][10][17] As MLC, Rizwan Arshad was instrumental in getting funds for several developments and infrastructure in Bengaluru.[18]
Rizwan Arshad is MLA of Shivajinagar Assembly after winning the 5 December 2019 bypolls.[24] The bypoll elections were due to the disqualification of R. Roshan Baig.
