Ila Pant's father-in-law
Govind Ballabh Pant was one of the major architect of modern India and a senior
Indian National Congress leader, and her husband went on to become a minister as well. She won the
1998 general election as a
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, winning 38.52% of the votes in the
Nainital constituency. She defeated the former Chief Minister and Congress leader
Narayan Dutt Tiwari by a margin of 15,557 votes. During 1998-99, she served as a member of the Committee on External Affairs and of the Consultative Committee, Ministry of External Affairs. She has also served on the Board of Governors of the
Pant Nagar University, and as a Secretary of the G.B. Pant Memorial Society in New Delhi. ==References==