Maharashtra’s first woman election commissioner dies of COVID-19

Former Maharashtra Chief Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan on Thursday morning died of coronavirus. The 72 year old IAS offcer from 1972 was the state’s first woman election commissioner. She served as the State Election Commissioner in 2009 and retired from her post in 2014

She breathed her last at Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai around 4 am. Her husband and son are also being treated for COVID-19 in the same hospital, the hospital authorities said.

Several politicians, including Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar, paid tributes to Satyanarayan.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray while praising her stint as the election commissioner, said she made the panel more people-oriented. Maharashtra will forever remember her as someone who left a stamp on her administrative career, the field of literature and art and for being a sensible personality.

NCP leader Sharad Pawar paid homage by tweeting that the state has lost a humane and empathetic ex-officer.

She always had fought for the rights of women in the service sector. During her posting in the Home department, she handled administration of prisons where she encouraged artistic skills of women inmates.

She authored 10 anthologies of poetry and 17 novels. She also composed music for some films in Marathi.