Prakash Pant
Prakash Pant was a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and member of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly in India. He was elected from Pithoragarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the 2002 to 2007 but in 2012 Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly election, he lost to Mayukh Mahar of Indian National Congress. He was the first speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. He was also a minister in Government of Uttarakhand with portfolios of Tourism, Culture, Pilgrimage Endowment, parliamentary Affairs & Reorganization. He died of cancer in Texas on 5 June 2019. Political career
Pant's political career started in the year 1977 when he was chosen as General Secretary of Military Science Board. In 1978, he was elected as the member of Municipal Council of Pithoragarh. Ten years later ,he was selected 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, but won in 2017 from Pithoragarh. Up until his death, Pant was a Cabinet Minister in the state of Uttarakhand and held portfolios of Tourism, Culture, Pilgrimage Endowment, Parliamentary Affairs, and Reorganization. 