Haryana’s Badshahpur MLA Rakesh Daultabad died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Gurugram on Saturday. Daultabad, 44, is survived by his wife, two sons aged 21 and 17.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini extended his condolences to the family.
Rakesh Daultabad, a first-time MLA, was supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Haryana Assembly. In the 2019 Assembly Elections, he defeated BJP’s Manish Yadav by a margin of 10,157 votes.
With Daultabad’s demise, the effective strength of the 90-member Haryana Assembly has been reduced to 87. Two seats had previously fallen vacant after former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar resigned from the Karnal assembly to make way for Nayab Singh Saini, and Independent MLA Ranjit Chautala from Rania resigned after joining the BJP.
Given the current strength of the House, the majority mark is 44.
The BJP, which has 40 MLAs, is supported by two others—Independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat of Prithla and Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party—making it two short of the majority mark. The Congress has 30 MLAs, the Jannayak Janta Party has 10, and the Indian National Lok Dal has one. Additionally, there are four other Independents who are not supporting the BJP.