BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap passed away in Pune on Tuesday after prolonged illness.
He is the sixth MLA from the 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly—elected in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls—to have died.
Jagtap was suffering from a life-threatening ailment for the past several years and was under treatment.
The ill MLA had arrived in an ambulance to vote in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections and the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls on June 20.
Jagtap is a three-time MLA from Chinchwad—having represented it in 2009 as an Independent and in 2014 and 2019 as a BJP member.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly now has two vacancies - Kasba Peth and Chinchwad, because of the death of Tilak and Jagtap, respectively.
PM Modi also condoled Jagtap's demise. "He made a great contribution to public welfare and for the development of Pune and the surrounding areas," Modi said.
The other MLAs who passed away
On December 22, 2022, Mukta Tilak (BJP/Kasba Peth) died of prolonged illness. She was the great-granddaughter-in-law of nationalist and revolutionary leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak. She too travelled in an ambulance from Pune to Mumbai for the Rajya Sabha and Maharashtra Legislative Council polls.
On May 11, 2022, Ramesh Latke (Shiv Sena/Andheri East) had died of a heart attack while he was on a private family trip to Dubai. His wife, Rutuja Latke, who belongs to Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) had won the bye-elections.
On December 2, 2021, Chandrakant Jadhav (Congress/Kolhapur North), who was suffering from an ailment, passed away in a hospital in Hyderabad. His wife, Jayashri Jadhav, won the bye-elections.
On April 9, 2021, Raosaheb Antapurkar (Deglur/Congress), who was suffering from Covid-19 related complications passed away in a private hospital in Mumbai. He was considered close to former Maharashtra Chief Minister and ex-state Congress President Ashok Chavan. His son, Jitesh Antapurkar won the bye-elections.
On November 28, 2020, Bharat Bhalke (Pandharpur-Mangalwedha/NCP) died due to post Covid-19 complications. Samadhan Autade of BJP won the bye-elections.