“For the party, it is an irreparable loss. We were very confident of winning the seat,” said BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan. Following Yogi’s death, the Election Commission has cancelled polls in the area.

Till 10 pm on Saturday, Yogi was at a worker’s house in Karol Bagh, taking last-minutes details of the 18 polling stations coming under the newly added portions in his constituency. In the morning, he spoke to his workers, giving them minute details with regard to the preparation for a pad yatra in Pusa. “He told me to pick up pamphlets, flowers and posters. He said he would reach in half an hour. Instead, the news of his death came,” said Sanjeev Bhatnagar, one of his key campaigners.

Confident of a victory the fourth time round, Yogi had called up BJP’s chief ministerial candidate V K Malhotra to inform him that he was well placed in the area.

Born in Gujaranwala district of Pakistan in 1935, Yogi had been active in politics since 1967. He had been a member of the RSS since childhood. In the ‘70s, he grew close to BJP leader Ram Nath Vij and later joined the party in April 1980, after taking voluntary retirement from Indian Oxygen Limited. He handled Karol Bagh district for several years. In 1993, he was given a ticket to contest his first Assembly polls, which he won with a margin of 2,500 votes. In the following two elections, the margin reduced. In 2003, he defeated Congress leader Raj Kumar Kohli by 891 votes.

Yogi managed to get the ticket this time after a tough competition. He got the seat only after the party decided to give tickets to every sitting MLA. “I feel I am just out of an ICU,” Yogi had told Newsline then.

Ravinder Gupta and R P Singh were the other contenders. “The party had almost finalised my name, but they later decided to give the ticket to Yogi. But there was no bitterness between us. He called me last night and said he was confident,” said Gupta.

Ramakant Goswami of the Congress, who is contesting from the Rajinder Nagar seat, was present at the cremation. “I had last met him on November 12 during the scrutiny of nominations. I am shocked,” he said.

Others who attended the funeral were senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Dr Harsh Vardhan, V K Malhotra and all BJP MLAs.