Chhotelal Verma

Chhotelal Verma (also spelled Chhote Lal Verma or Chotelal Verma) was an Indian politician who represented the Fatehabad assembly constituency in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh, for four terms. A sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA at the time of his death, he died on 24 September 2026 at Yatharth Hospital in Noida while being taken for further treatment, aged 73. Family sources told the Times of India he suffered a cardiac arrest after two days of fever. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called the news extremely heartbreaking and offered public condolences the same evening.

Verma was born on 7 July 1953 in the village of Nagla Devhans in Agra district. His father was Jangjeet Singh. He studied at Janta Intermediate College in Fatehabad, Agra, completing Intermediate studies in 1972 according to later election affidavits. Outside the legislature he worked in agriculture and ran a petrol filling station, occupations that kept him rooted in the rural economy of the constituency he would represent for decades.

He first entered the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Fatehabad in December 1993 and went on to win the seat again in 2002, 2012 and 2022. Those four terms spanned the 12th, 14th, 16th and 18th Assemblies. Over the years he contested under more than one party banner. He served as a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA before rejoining the Bharatiya Janata Party on 27 December 2016, when India Today reported that two sitting Agra MLAs joined the BJP ahead of the state elections. In 2022 he won Fatehabad again for the BJP and sat in the 18th Uttar Pradesh Assembly until his death. News reports after he died described him as a former Uttar Pradesh government minister and noted brief state-minister portfolio roles recorded around 2009 and 2010 in assembly profiles.

His death on Thursday evening emptied a sitting seat and drew an outpouring of grief among BJP workers and supporters in Agra and Fatehabad. Relatives had first admitted him to a private hospital near Rajpur Chungi in Agra after the fever set in. When his condition did not improve they set out for Delhi, but his health worsened on the road and he was taken into Yatharth Hospital in Noida, where doctors treated him until he died. The Times of India, Amar Ujala, ABP Live, Jagran and other Indian outlets reported the circumstances within hours. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath posted a Hindi tribute asking for strength for the bereaved family, and local leaders including MP Rajkumar Chahar spoke publicly about the loss.

Verma's long hold on Fatehabad made him a familiar figure in Agra district politics across three decades. He leaves a vacancy in the 18th Uttar Pradesh Assembly and a record as a four-term rural MLA who moved between major state parties yet kept winning the same seat.