Prakash Pant

Prakash Pant (11 November 1960 - 5 June 2019) was an Indian politician and pharmacist and a member of Bharatiya Janata Party who served as the first speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. He was elected from Pithoragarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the 2002 , 2007 and 2017 but in 2012, he lost to Mayukh Mahar of Indian National Congress by a significant margin before regaining it from him in 2017. He was the first speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. He was also a minister in Government of Uttarakhand with portfolios of Finance, Tourism, Culture, Pilgrimage Endowment, parliamentary Affairs & Reorganization. He was MLC from 1998 till 2002 before the formation of Uttarakhand.

He died of lung cancer in Houston, Texas on 5 June 2019.

Early life and education Prakash Pant was born on November 11, 1960, into a humble family in a small village in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. Prakash Pant completed his intermediate in the year 1977. In 1980, he graduated in pharmacy from Dwarahat. Pant displayed leadership qualities from an early age. In 2004, he won a gold medal in the state shooting championship. He was a well-traveled person and had lived in various countries like the UK, Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite being in government service, he worked selflessly among the underprivileged and marginalized sections of society to help them prosper and rise. He resigned from government service to work solely for the underprivileged and joined politics.

Personal life His wife Chandra Pant is a teacher by profession who was also a member of legislative assembly from pithoragarh from 2019 till 2022. His daughter Namita Pant is an officer in the Indian army.

Political career Prakash Pant possessed leadership qualities from an early age. A pharmacist by profession, Pant began his political career in 1977 when he was elected general secretary of the Military Science Board. Ten years later, he was elected 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, by a huge margin but won in 2017 from Pithoragarh. At that time he was a frontrunner for the post of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand but he instead ended up becoming the second most important person, the Finance Minister of Uttarakhand. Up until his death, Pant was a Cabinet Minister in the state of Uttarakhand and held portfolios of Finance, Tourism, Culture, Pilgrimage Endowment, Parliamentary Affairs, and Reorganization.

Electoral performance