Several luminaries of Indian politics have lost their lives in plane crashes, including 3 Chief Ministers and a Lok Sabha Speaker

Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a tragic plane crash on Wednesday morning. This is the second incident in the last 7 months where a senior Indian leader has died in a plane crash. Last year (June 2025), former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani died in a plane crash. So far, 7 prominent Indian politicians have lost their lives in plane or helicopter crashes. Three of them (Balwant Rai Mehta, Dorji Khandu, and Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy) were serving as Chief Ministers.

Balwant Rai Mehta was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 1963 to 1965. During the 1965 war, Mehta was on a flight to inspect the Kutch area when Pakistan targeted his plane. The crash resulted in the deaths of Mehta, his wife, three employees, a journalist, and two crew members. Mehta was the first senior leader to die in a plane crash.

Sanjay Gandhi, a Congress MP at the time, was killed in a plane crash on June 23, 1980, while flying a plane in Delhi. Sanjay was an avid flyer and had taken off at 10 am. While performing stunts, his plane crashed, killing him and his co-pilot Subhash Saxena.

Madhavrao Scindia, a senior Congress leader, also died in a plane crash. On September 30, 2001, Scindia was on his way to attend a rally in Kanpur when his plane crashed near Mota village in Mainpuri, killing him. He was 56 years old at the time of the accident.