Senior Congress politician and sitting Congress MP from Nanded Vasant Chavan died at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Monday, following prolonged illness. 

 He was 69 only. He is the first MP from the newly-elected Lok Sabha to have passed away. Chavan breathed his last at KIMS Hospital in Hyderabad where he had been admitted a few days back following breathlessness and multiple health issues.  Mourning the death of Chavan, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla wrote on "X": "Pained to know about sad demise of Vasant Chavan, MP from Nanded. My heartfelt condolences to his family members and relatives. May his pious soul attain eternal peace".

 Several Congress leaders, including Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat, condoled Chavan's death.

 "The news of the demise of a senior leader of Congress party, MP of Nanded Lok Sabha Constituency Vasantrao Chavan is very shocking. He always remained loyal to the Congress party even in adverse conditions and brought the idea of the Congress party home...The entire Congress party is with the Chavan family in this grief," Patole said.

 In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Chavan had trounced sitting BJP MP Prataprao Patil Chikhalikar by 59,442 votes from Nanded constituency.

 Nanded has been a traditional Congress bastion. Barring four terms, Nanded has been under the control of the Congress since 1952. While late SB Chavan represented the constituency twice (1980 and 1984), Ashok Chavan himself was elected to Lok Sabha once in a bye-election in 1987, following the resignation of his father. Late SB Chavan's son-in-law and Ashokrao's brother-in-law Bhaskarao Khatgaonkar has represented the constituency thrice (1998, 1999 and 2009).   

 The Congress suffered a major jolt when Maharashtra's former Chief Minister and senior party leader Ashok Chavan resigned from the grand-old party and joined the BJP in February this year.