November 30, 2020: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Rajasthan’s Rajsamand, Kiran Maheshwari, who had tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) last month, passed away last night at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital.

Maheshwari, who was also a member of the 14th Lok Sabha from 2004-2009 from Rajasthan’s Udaipur constituency, was shifted to Medanta earlier this month after her health worsened.

According to reports, Maheshwari had contracted Covid-19 during October’s municipal corporation elections. She was one of the two election in-charges of the BJP for the Kota North Municipal Corporation (KNMC), Churu MLA Rajendra Rathore being the other.

Condoling her demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s Office (PMO) tweeted: “Pained by the untimely demise of Kiran Maheshwari Ji. Be it as MP, MLA or Cabinet Minister in the Rajasthan Government, she made numerous efforts to work towards the progress of the state and empower the poor as well as marginalised. Condolences to her family. Om Shanti.”

Before Maheshwari, Congress MLA from Bhilwara, Kailash Trivedi, had passed away due to post-Covid-19 complications in October. Trivedi, who, like Maheshwari, breathed his last in Gurugram, had tested positive in September. He had subsequently tested negative but continued to have problems in his lungs, in what doctors described as a post-Covid-19 complication.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh ministers and BJP leaders Chetan Chauhan and Kamal Rani Varun, too, had passed away due to Covid-19.

As of Sunday, Rajasthan’s Covid-19 tally stood at 262,805, according to government data. This includes 231, 780 recoveries, 28,751 active cases and 2,274 deaths.