Moradabad (UP): Bharatiya Janata Party's Moradabad candidate Sarvesh Singh, who was elected five times as an MLA and once as an MP, died a day after the first phase of general elections in Uttar Pradesh.

UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary confirmed the news of the death of the 72-year-old leader, whose constituency voted a day ago.

Singh had been ailing for quite some time and was undergoing treatment at a Delhi hospital, said media reports.

BJP sources told the media he had gone to AIIMS for a check-up. Earlier, he had been operated on for some problem in his throat, they said.

Yogi Adityanath expressed sorrow at the demise of Sarvesh Singh and said that his death was “an irreparable loss to ‘BJP Parivaar’”.

“In this hour of grief, my thoughts and prayers go out to his family members and loved ones. I pray that Prabhu Shri Ram grants eternal peace to the departed soul while giving his family the strength and forbearance to bear this loss. Om Shanti!" Yogi Adityanath posted on X.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Moradabad, among the 80 constituencies in Western UP, was secured by ST Hasan of the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav.

The constituency consists of five Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments: Barhapur, Kanth, Thakurdwara, Moradabad Rural, and Moradabad Nagar region.

In this election, Ruchi Veera has been nominated by the opposition's INDIA bloc on the Samajwadi Party ticket.