New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) A twice married Rajya Sabha MP, who was accused of providing misinformation about his marital status on the parliament website, Friday corrected his personal details on the site after reports in the media.
The revised profile of M.P. Abdussamad Samadani of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on the website now says he is married, but the column for spouse's name still remains blank.
P.V. Shebi, a Students' Federation of India (SFI) activist from Palakkadu district, had complained Samadani had stated that he was "unmarried" when he has been married twice and lived with both his wives.
"This is wrong information. To the best of my knowledge, he has married twice. He is living with both of his wives," Shebi said in the complaint sent to Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Samadani admitted it too. He told a TV channel that it was a mistake by officials in the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
The information had been on the website for the last 12 years.
Local reports from Kerala also claimed that the voters' list of Kottackal panchayat, the native place of Samadani, showed that the MP, who is due to retire from the Rajya Sabha end of this month, had two wives.
"In our personal law (Muslim Personal Law), it is permissible to have more than one wife. It is valid legally too," Shebi said.
"But Samadani intended to hide this information from the public," he added.
Shebi had also claimed that Samadani had mentioned that he did not have any children whereas "he has five children at present". Samadani has not yet included this information on the parliament website.
Pointing out that such "misinformation" would affect the credibility of parliamentary documents, the complainant had asked the chairman to take "appropriate action" before the MP retired.
"He allowed this misinformation to stay on the website for the last 12 years. It is highly condemnable," Shebi told IANS over the phone from Kerala.