BN Vijayakumar, a sitting member of legislative assembly or MLA of the Bharatiya Janata Party died of a massive heart attack at a hospital in Bengaluru early this morning, officials of the state BJP said today. Mr Vijayakumar, a candidate for the upcoming assembly election in the state on May 12, collapsed during an election rally in Bengaluru's Jayanagar constituency last night. He was admitted to the government-run Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology late last night.

"Doctors attended to him till around 1 am this morning, but efforts to resuscitate him failed," state BJP spokesperson S Prakash told news agency PTI. "His humility, dedication & commitment to party and people will be remembered. A great loss for us. Our condolences to his family. We pray for his Sadgati," the Karnataka BJP tweeted this morning.