Sikander Bakht

Sikander Bakht (24 August 1918 – 23 February 2004) was an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who served as the 15th governor of Kerala from 2002 until his death.

[1] He was elected as the Vice President of the BJP, served as its leader in the Rajya Sabha, and as a cabinet minister in the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered General Elections in March 1977.

In March 1977, Bakht was elected to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Indian Parliament) as a Janata Party candidate, from Chandni Chowk in New Delhi.

In 1990 Bakht was elected to the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian Parliament) from Madhya Pradesh.

After serving an entire term as Industries Minister, Bakht retired from active politics and was appointed the Governor of Kerala in 2002.

The four other persons from the BJP who have been awarded the Padma Vibhushan are Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

9 days later, he was sworn in as Governor of Kerala, succeeding Sukhdev Singh Kang.

[4] Chief Minister A. K. Antony, at the time of Sikander Bakht's death, had to give into popular demand to order an inquiry to examine if there was any lapse on part of doctors or any other motive.

[5] [6] The President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, said "In his death we have lost a prominent public personality and a statesman.