Puran Chand Yogi, a sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Rajinder Nagar and the party's candidate from the constituency for the Delhi assembly polls, allegedly committed suicide at his residence in New Delhi on Sunday.
Yogi, 73, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house in Inderpuri in south-west Delhi at around 7.15 am by his wife Asha, a senior police officer said.
The three-time MLA was pitted against Ramakant Goswami of the Congress in the elections and was actively campaigning in the constituency.
His wife told police that Yogi had woken up at around 5 am and asked for the keys to an upper floor room where his election materials were kept. At around 7.15 am, his wife went upstairs only to find him hanging, the officer said.
Earlier, his family sources had said that the MLA had died following a heart attack.
Yogi, formerly working with the Indian Oxygen Ltd, has a son and a daughter.
Senior BJP leader and the party's chief ministerial candidate V K Malhotra visited the MLA's residence.
Born in Gujaranwala district of Pakistan in 1935, Yogi had been active in politics since 1967. He was first elected to the assembly in 1993 and was re-elected in 1998 and 2003.
In the last assembly polls, he had defeated Raj Kumar Kohli of Congress by 891 votes.
"In all probability, the election in Rajinder Nagar will be postponed and we will ask for a new candidate from the party," a Delhi election official said.
