Kedarnath MLA Shaila Rani Rawat passes away

Dehradun: BJP MLA from Kedarnath Shaila Rani Rawat died at the Max Hospital here late on Tuesday night.

She was 68, family sources said.

Rawat was on ventilator support at the hospital for the last few days.

She was being treated for a backbone injury.

Rawat won the Kedarnath seat to make it to the Uttarakhand Assembly for the first time in 2012 on a Congress ticket. She lost the seat in 2017 but won it again in 2022 on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.

She was among the 10 Congress MLAs who had rebelled against former chief minister Harish Rawat in 2016 and joined the BJP.