Uma Bharti attacks Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat over his marital status, demands resignation

Launching a personal attack against Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, BJP leader Uma Bharti today accused him of "marrying a second time without divorcing his first wife" and demanded his resignation on moral grounds.

"I have information that the chief minister's first wife Basanti Devi has gone missing," Bharti said at a press conference here.

She alleged that "an unidentified man called Sanjay Rawat had applied for removal of Harish Rawat's first wife Basanti Devi's name from the voters list of Almora by filling out form 7."

Clarifying that form 7 is meant to be used for removal of a voter's name from the list who has gone missing, gone abroad or is dead, she said, "a delegation of BJP's women's wing will soon meet Uttarakhand DGP BS Siddhu and urge him to locate the CM's missing first wife within 48 hours." "Since he married second time without divorcing his first wife, he should resign from the post of CM on moral grounds," she said.

She also said, "the CM and his second wife Renuka violated EC rules by applying for registration as voters from Dehradun at a time when they were already registered as voters from Ranikhet in Almora."