Former Delhi Chief Minister & Congress leader Sheila Dikshit passes away in Delhi at the age of 81 years

UPDATE at 6:30 PM:

Last rites of Sheila Dikshit will be held at Nigam Bodh Ghat on Sunday while her mortal remains would be kept for people to pay tributes at her Nizamuddin residence till 11 AM, as per ANI.

UPDATE at 4:30 PM: 

Details of Sheila Dikshit's last rites were shared by Congress leader Ahmad Patel.

In an unfortunate incident, Former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit passed away on July 20, Saturday at the age of 81. Details available at the time of writing states that she passed away due to cardiac arrest at Escorts Fortis Hospital. Sheila Dikshit was born 31 March 1938 and was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, serving for a period of 15 years from 1998 to 2013. Sources also informed that she breathed her last at 03:55 PM.

Dikshit led Congress party to three consecutive electoral victories in Delhi. In the December 2013 elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Dikshit was defeated in New Delhi constituency by Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who replaced her as Delhi's chief minister. Subsequently, she was sworn in as Governor of Kerala on 11 March 2014. The Congress party fought the recent Lok Sabha elections in Delhi under her leadership. 

Informing about the cause of her demise, Dr Ashok Seth the director of Escorts Fortis where her treatment was going on said that she suffered a cardiac arrest, however she passed away at 03:55 PM. 

READ: Tension within Congress after PC Chacko overturns Sheila Dikshit's dissolution of 280 block committees

In the Lok Sabha elections, she contested from the North East Delhi constituency against BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari. However she lost the elections. After the loss, Dikshit took  steps to revive the Congress party amid crisis in the party. Across party lines she was respected as a leader who communicates and as reactions comes in, politician from the nation saddened and shocked at her sudden demise.

Remembering Sheila Dikshit: 

•     
• An active politician, the late Sheila Dikshit has a repository of achievements and lengthy political career. Sheila Dikhit was Member of Parliament representing Kannauj constituency of Uttar Pradesh from 1984 to 1989. She was also a Member of the Lok Sabha's Estimates Committee in 1984. She had chaired the Implementation Committee formed to commemorate 40 years of Indian Independence and the centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru.
       
•     
• Sheila Dikshit had represented India at the United Nations Commission on the status of women from 1984 to 1989. She was the Union minister from 1986 to 1989, handling two portfolios as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office and as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, showing her mettle in administrative and parliamentary matters.
       
•     
• She was three time Chief Minister of the National Capital: She was elected to the Second Delhi Legislative Assembly in 1998 & was Chief Minister, Delhi. She was elected to the third Assembly in 2003. And on 8 December 2008, after winning the Delhi assembly elections for the third straight time -- Sheila Dixit became the longest serving Woman Chief Minister in India
       
•     
• Shehla Dikshit has even served as the Governor of Kerala from March 2014 to August 2014. She was appointed as the President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee in January 2019 by the then Congress President Rahul Gandhi . 

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi pays tribute to former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit

Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia pays tribute to Sheila Dikshit

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla pays his tribute:

PM Modi pays his tribute to the former Delhi Chief Minister

BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari pays tribute to Sheila Dikshit

Former President Pranab Mukherjee pays his last tribute to Sheila Dikshit

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pays his tribute

Actress Sharmila Tagore pays tribute to Sheila Dikshit

Former PM Manmohan Sigh pays tribute to fellow Congressman Sheila Dikshit