Uttarakhand BJP expels former MLA over ‘second marriage’, UCC violation

The Uttarakhand BJP on Saturday expelled senior leader and former Haridwar MLA Suresh Rathore over allegations that he secretly married a second time without divorcing his first wife. The party said Rathore’s actions violated the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a law the BJP has often touted as a landmark achievement in the state.

Rathore’s expulsion order stated that the party leadership was not satisfied with his response to the show-cause notice. “The reply to the show-cause notice submitted by Suresh Rathore was not satisfactory. He failed to justify his public conduct, which became a source of embarrassment for the party, leading to his expulsion,” said BJP state media in-charge and senior spokesperson Manvir Singh Chauhan.

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“The party leadership is not satisfied with your explanation in response to the show-cause notice issued on June 23. You have consistently violated the party’s code of conduct and standards of public propriety. Therefore, you are being expelled from the party’s primary membership for a period of six years,” read the expulsion order sent to Rathore.

Suresh Rathore, a senior BJP leader and former MLA from Jwalapur in Haridwar, has allegedly entered into a second marriage without divorcing his first wife. However, Rathore has been inconsistent in his statements regarding his relationship with longtime partner and local actor Urmila Sanawar. The two were often involved in public spats on social media and had even taken legal action against each other in the past.

However, a few days ago, Rathore appeared to acknowledge his marriage to Urmila in a veiled statement. During a media briefing in Saharanpur, he said, “Urmila’s love has finally won.” Rathore has been accused of violating the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) enacted by the BJP government in 2024, which prohibits plural marriage. In response, Rathore argued, “As accepted by Urmila, the marriage took place in 2022—before the UCC was enacted.”

As his video with veiled confession of plural marriage went viral BJP state leadership sent his show cause notice for bring disrespect to the party by his action. Reacting to this he denied of marriage in public. He questioned “if there was any witness to his marriage ceremony, applying vermilion on hair parting of the lady or putting “warmala” (bride’s garland) on her. To prove his point Rathore also questioned if anyone had seen him marrying in the court.

After a video surfaced in which Rathore appeared to indirectly acknowledge his second marriage, the BJP state leadership issued him a show-cause notice, stating that his actions had brought disrespect to the party. In response, Rathore publicly denied having married Urmila. He challenged the allegations by asking, “Was there any witness to a marriage ceremony—anyone who saw me applying vermilion on her hair parting or exchanging a varmala with her?” To further his defence, Rathore also questioned whether anyone had seen him getting married in a court of law.