Chandigarh : August 24, 2020. Barely two days before members of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha are set to convene for the monsoon session, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta has tested positive for coronavirus.
Gupta, a BJP MLA who represents Panchkula constituency, was tested by the health department’s doctors at his residence on Sunday. His test report came back positive on Monday morning. Gupta’s condition is stable and he is self-isolating at his residence in Panchkula. Gupta’s political secretary and nephew had earlier tested positive for coronavirus infection. The health department had initiated protocols for Gupta’s contact tracing.
There are several other Haryana MLAs who had tested positive for the virus, too. BJP MLA, Aseem Goel, who represents Ambala (City) constituency has tested positive and is also under home isolation. Besides Goel, BJP MLA Ram Kumar Kashyap, who represents assembly constituency, has also tested positive. Kashyap is also a former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.
All the MLAs who tested positive have appealed to those who came in contact with them in the last few days to get themselves tested for Covid.
All the MLAs, Vidhan Sabha staff, IAS and IPS officers besides the security staff deployed during the Vidhan Sabha Session proceedings have to undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test before the Vidhan Sabha proceedings commence on August 26.
The tests are being conducted for the last two days. Till Monday, out of 361 Vidhan Sabha staff who were tested for Covid-19, six had tested positive.
