Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar, who had tested positive for Covid-19, passed away at the Bombay Hospital in Mumbai on Friday evening.
He was 55.
Antapurkar, the Congress MLA from Deglur in Nanded district of Maharashtra, was initially undergoing treatment at a hospital in his constituency. He was later shifted to Mumbai when his health deteriorated.
Antapurkar, a two-term MLA, was close to senior Congressman and public works department minister Ashok Chavan.
Antapurkar is the second MLA from Maharashtra to have died of Covid-19. An engineer, he had served the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and joined politics in 1999.
Earlier, NCP MLA from Pandharpur-Mangalwedha, Bharat Bhalke, a three-time legislator, had died due to post-Covid complications on 28 November. The bye-elections of this seat is to be held on 17 April and counting on 2 May.