Sheila Dikshit, Congress veteran and longest-serving former chief minister of Delhi, died on July 20 in the national capital. She was 81 years old. Dikshit suffered a cardiac arrest earlier in the day and succumbed to it around 3:55 pm at Escorts Hospital. (Image: Reuters)
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The senior Congress leader served for 15 years as Delhi's Chief Minister from 1998 to 2013, before she was defeated by the current chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. During her tenure, she consolidated Congress’ position in the national capital. (Image: Reuters)
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Dikshit was born on 31 March 1938 in Kapurthala, Punjab and was educated in the national capital. She graduated from the University of Delhi with a Master of Arts degree in history. In the early '70s, Dikshit was a staunch advocate of women rights and served as the chairperson of the Young Women's Association. During her time there, she was instrumental in the setting up two of the most successful hostels for working women in Delhi. She later represented India at United Nations Commission on Status of Women for five years in 1984 and 1989. She even landed her in jail along with 82 colleagues in 1990 after the UP government arrested her for leading a movement against the atrocities being committed on women. (Image: Reuters)
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Her earnestness and hard work came to the forefront when despite getting defeated by BJP’s Lal Bihari Tiwari from East Delhi in the Lok Sabha election in 1998, she secured her position at Delhi's top office in its Assembly elections in the same year. According to a Congress leader, Dikshit had an "unparalleled" connection with the people of Delhi and she always kicked off her campaign by walking through the streets of her constituency to meet voters and address their concerns. (Image Reuters)
During her tenure, Dikshit introduced several projects, and is credited for improving the city with key reforms and solid governance. “She brought in reforms to the power sector, a series of social security schemes and also greatly enhanced the city’s infrastructure during her tenure,” a former associate of Dikshit told News18. (Image: Reuters)
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She was also involved in a fair share of controversies. She granted bail to convicted murderer Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal case and was also accused of embezzling state money for political advertisements. Dikshit was also an accused in the 2010 Commonwealth Games corruption case, where then CAG allegedly blamed her for irregularities in imported equipment for street lighting in the city during the games. (Image: Reuters)
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Dikshit's tenure came to an end after a landslide defeat in 2013 when AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal won the election in the New Delhi Assembly constituency by a margin of 25,864 votes. She was appointed as the Governor of Kerala in March 2014, but resigned five months later. (Image: Reuters)
![Her earnestness and hard work came to the forefront when despite getting defeated by BJP’s Lal Bihari Tiwari from East Delhi in the Lok Sabha election, she secured her position at Delhi's top office in its Assembly elections. According to a Congress leader, Dixit had an "unparalleled" connection with the people of Delhi and she always kicked off her campaign walking through the streets of her constituency to meet voters and address their concerns. (Image Reuters)](https://images.moneycontrol.com/static-mcnews/2019/07/sheila-dixit-5.jpg "Her earnestness and hard work came to the forefront when despite getting defeated by BJP’s Lal Bihari Tiwari from East Delhi in the Lok Sabha election, she secured her position at Delhi's top office in its Assembly elections. According to a Congress leader, Dixit had an "unparalleled" connection with the people of Delhi and she always kicked off her campaign walking through the streets of her constituency to meet voters and address their concerns. (Image Reuters)")
