A BJP MLA from Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the second legislator who voted in the Rajya Sabha election to have contracted the illness, said district officials.
Hours after the election at the Vidhan Sabha on June 19, party MLA from Jawad in Neemuch district Omprakash Saklecha and his wife tested positive here, sending jitters across party lines.
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Sirmour MLA Divyaraj Singh, who returned to Rewa, became alert after he came to know about it and isolated himself, said R.S. Pandey, district Chief Medical and Health Officer. “We collected his sample on June 27, which tested positive a day later.”
The legislator was sitting close to Mr. Saklecha during the election. “He is most likely to have contracted the illness from him,” said Dr. Pandey. Health workers have collected samples of 25 persons who had come in contact with him.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he had received the news of the MLA being unwell, , “I pray to God for his speedy recovery”, he tweeted.
Mr. Singh is the third MLA, after Mr. Saklecha and Congressman Kunal Choudhary, to have contracted the illness. Mr. Choudhary, who tested positive days before the vote, took part donning personal protective equipment.
The election, scheduled for March 26 last, was put off owing to the COVID-19 threat. BJP leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki and Congressman Digvijaya Singh were elected to the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh.
