Former Panchmahal MP and ex-Gujarat minister Prabhatsinh Chauhan dies at 82

Born in Mahelol near Godhra in June 1941, Chauhan had begun his political career as the sarpanch of his village and thereafter contested the Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat polls. Chauhan got his first Assembly ticket in 1980 from the Congress party and was elected for two consecutive terms in 1980 and 1985.

He joined the BJP in 1990 after the Congress denied him a third chance in the Assembly polls. He contested and won the Assembly constituency as a BJP candidate in 1995, 1998, and 2002. He also served as a minister of state under the Chief Ministership of Narendra Modi in Gujarat.

However, he lost the polls from Godhra Assembly constituency in 2007 to then-Congress leader C K Raulji.

The BJP fielded Chauhan as a Lok Sabha candidate from Panchmahal district in 2009 and 2014 and the veteran leader successfully won both the polls.

He was known to be close to Shankarsinh Vaghela but continued to stay with the BJP even after the latter parted ways.

A family spat that included a brawl in public between his fourth wife Rangeshwari and daughter-in-law Suman ahead of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly election led the BJP to sideline the veteran leader in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, after which he remained miffed with the party.

In November last year, he joined the Congress to unsuccessfully contest the Kalol Assembly constituency.

Chauhan’s estranged daughter-in-law Suman Chauhan was a BJP MLA from Kalol from 2017 to 2022. She was in the news for being part of the Jail Advisory Committee (JAC) that recommended the release of the 11 life-term convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case.

Chauhan’s son Pravinsinh, from his deceased first wife Rupali, had passed away a few years ago. He is survived by his wives Ramila, Lilavati, and Rangeshwari, two daughters and six sons, including a minor with Rangeshwari.