CM Rawat under fire over his 'two wives'

BJP gears up for legal battle over the controversy

The issue surrounding Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat's "two wives" has snowballed into a major controversy in the run-up to the July 21 Dharchula Assembly by-elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has lodged a formal complaint with the election commission (EC) against Rawat for "lying and hiding facts" about his alleged first wife Basanti Devi and their two sons. (Business Standard in its July 3 edition had taken the lead in breaking the story).

However, Returning Officer Pramod Kumar has declared the nomination papers to be valid, after the scrutiny. "As far as nomination is concerned, the papers are valid," said Kumar.

Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi has advised the BJP to seek legal remedy on the issue.

The BJP was fuming overr the controversy. "We have lodged a formal complaint with the Returning officer Pramod Kumar as well as the Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi regarding the two wives of the chief minister," said Leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt. The opposition BJP had earlier maintained it would raise the issue in the by-elections in a big way.

Bhatt said his party would take legal action against Rawat on the issue. "We are also preparing for a court battle against the chief minister," added Bhatt. He said under the Hindu Marriage Act 1956, a person cannot marry two women, without divorcing the first wife. "In the case of Rawat, he has not divorced Basanti Devi and has lied in the affidavit papers about his wives and mentioned only the name of his second wife Renuka," said Bhatt.

Rawat was keeping himself away from the election process, as he has been advised complete bed-rest by doctors at AIIMS in New Delhi, where he is recuperating from a neck injury. Rawat, who became CM on February 1, is contesting Assembly elections because he must become an MLA within six months after taking oath under the constitutional obligations.

The nomination papers were filed in the absence of Rawat by his supporters before the Dharchula Assembly Returning Officer. In his nomination papers, Rawat only mentioned the name of Renuka Rawat as his spouse, the returning officer had confirmed earlier.

During the Lok Sabha elections, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti had raised the issue of the two wives of the chief minister by demanding a probe into the "mysterious disappearance" of Basanti Devi, the first wife of the Chief Minister. However, the issue died down in the election as the opposition did not make much noise against Rawat, whose second wife Renuka had contested from Haridwar unsuccessfully.

Interestingly, it is not the first time that the BJP is raising the issue of second wife of Harish Rawat. In 2004 general elections also, the BJP had approached the Election Commission to cancel the nomination papers of Renuka, who had contested from Almora Lok Sabha constituency, on the ground that she was the second wife of Rawat. But no action had been taken on the issue at that time since Renuka had lost the election.