Political Activist Dies of Heart Attack Watching Party’s Drubbing in Elections

11:56 GMT, 23 May 2019

The opposition Congress Party wrested power from the BJP in the state-level assembly elections that took place five months ago and the party was optimistic that it could repeat the success – but this was not to be.

Sputnik

New Delhi (Sputnik): A Congress Party activist in Madhya Pradesh died of heart attack on Thursday after learning of his party's drubbing in the parliamentary elections on the day of the vote counting. Ratan Singh Thakur, president of Sheohar District Congress, complained of pain in the heart while working on getting information on party candidate Digvijaya Singh at a counting centre in the morning.

Thakur was rushed to the district hospital, as his health kept deteriorating. Eventually, he died after arrival.

Vote Count Underway as Narendra Modi's BJP Leads in Indian General Elections

23 May 2019, 09:42 GMT

Digvijaya Singh, who is a senior leader and former chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, was trailing against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, a Hindu hardliner who had recently hailed Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, calling him a "patriot".

In Madhya Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in 28 out of 29 parliamentary constituencies in the state by late afternoon.

While the trends indicate a clear win for BJP, it is also expected to improve on its 2014 performance, when it won 282 seats on its own in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.