Congress MlA from Chitrakoot Assembly in Satna district, Prem Singh, died at a private hospital in Satna on Monday. He was 65.
The three-term MlA, Singh was elected first in 1998, 2003 and then in 2013 defeating BJP's Surendra Singh Gaharwar by almost 12,000 votes.
Singh was suffering from severely uncontrolled diabetes and had been ailing for quite some time. He was undergoing treatment a private hospital where he died on Monday.
He was closely associated with former Union Minister Arjun Singh and his son, the leader of Opposition in MP, Ajay Singh. Prem Singh was a bachelor.
The Congress had 57 MlAs in a House of 230 members and with Singh's demise, the Congress will now have 56 MlAs.
In 2013, at the time of the Assembly elections across the Atate, the Congress had won 58 seats.
However, Congress MlAs Sanjay Pathak and Narayan Tripathi defected to the BJP and were elected again as BJP MlAs.
With Singh’s demise, the State is all set for another by-election in Madhya Pradesh.
Since this would be the last election, before Assembly elections scheduled November 2018, the outcome would certainly impact both ruling BJP and the main opposition, Congress.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, State Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma and Deputy Speaker Rajendra Singh, leader of the Opposition in State Assembly Ajay Singh and PCC Chief Arun Yadav have expressed deep sorrow over the death of Chitrakoot Vidhan Sabha constituency MlA Prem Singh.
The Chief Minister said that late Singh was a leader who always remained alert and sensitive towards public issues. He prayed for peace to the departed soul and strength to the bereaved family to bear the loss.