Prakash Pant

Prakash Pant was a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and member of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly in India. He was elected from Pithoragarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the 2002 to 2007 but in 2012 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election, he lost to Mayukh Mahar of Indian National Congress. He was the first speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.^[2][3] He was also a minister in Government of Uttarakhand with portfolios of Tourism, Culture, Pilgrimage Endowment, parliamentary Affairs & Reorganization.^[4][5]

Prakash Pant
Finance Minister of Uttarakhand
In office 18 March 2017 – 5 June 2019
Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
In office 2000–2002
MLA of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
In office 2002–2012
Preceded by	Chandra Pant
Constituency	Pithoragarh
In office 2017–2019
Constituency	Pithoragarh
Personal details
Born	(1960-11-11)11 November 1960 Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, India
Died	5 June 2019(2019-06-05) (aged 58) Houston, Texas, U.S.[1]
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Chandra Pant

He died of cancer in Texas on 5 June 2019.

Electoral performance

Election	Constituency	Party		Result	Votes %	Opposition Candidate	Opposition Party		Opposition vote %	Ref
2017	Pithoragarh		BJP	Won	49.16%	Mayukh Mahar		INC	45.15%	[6]
2012 by election	Sitarganj		BJP	Lost	19.82%	Vijay Bahuguna		INC	77.14%
2012	Pithoragarh		BJP	Lost	36.37%	Mayukh Mahar		INC	59.46%	[7]
2007	Pithoragarh		BJP	Won	50.86%	Ravindra Singh (Kiran Maldar)		INC	39.52%	[8]
2002	Pithoragarh		BJP	Won	39.15%	Mayukh Mahar		INC	24.18%	[9]

Political career

Pant's political career started in the year 1977 when he was chosen as General Secretary of Military Science Board. In 1978, he was elected as the member of Municipal Council of Pithoragarh. Ten years later ,he was selected as the member of Legislative Council U.P. Soon when Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) became a state in 2000, Pant became the first speaker of the state assembly. In the first Assembly elections in 2002, he was elected to Uttarakhand Assembly from Pithoragarh and then again in 2007. With the Khanduri government coming to power, he became a cabinet minister and was given the parliamentary affairs portfolio. In 2012 election, he faced his first defeat from Mayukh Mahar of the Congress, but won in 2017 from Pithoragarh. Up until his death, Pant was a Cabinet Minister in the state of Uttarakhand and held portfolios of Tourism, Culture, Pilgrimage Endowment, Parliamentary Affairs, and Reorganization.