Rakesh Daultabad an independent MLA from Haryana’s Badshahpur died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Gurugram on Saturday morning. He was 44.
Haryana CM Nayab Sing Saini extended condolences to the family.
A first-time MLA, Daultabad was supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the House. In the 2019 assembly elections, he had 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 earlier fallen vacant after former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had resigned from the Karnal assembly to make way for Nayab Singh Saini, and Independent MLA Ranjit Chautala from Rania resigned from the assembly membership after joining the BJP.
As per the current strength of the House, the majority mark is 44.
With 40 MLAs and the backing of two more, Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party and Independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat of Prithla, the BJP is two MLAs short of the crucial number. The Indian National Lok Dal has one MLA, the Jannayak Janta Party has ten, and the Congress has thirty. Four other Independents do not support the BJP, except for that.