Garima Singh is an Indian politician and a member of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh in India. Singh represented the

Amethi Amethi is a city situated in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Gauriganj is the administrative headquarters of the Amethi district. This district is a part of Ayodhya division in the Awadh region of the state. Amethi was 72nd district of ...

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Members of the legislative assembly are often directly elected to serve fiv ...

constituency, which is in Amethi district,

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Personal life

Garima Singh is legally married to another politician,

Sanjaya Sinh Sanjaya Sinh (born 25 September 1951), also known as Sanjay Singh, is an Indian politician and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. He was twice elected to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh during the 1980s and held state ministerial p ...

(also known as Sanjay Singh). Sanjay claims to be married to Ameeta Singh, the widow of

Syed Modi Syed Modi (31 December 1962 – 28 July 1988), born as Syed Mehdi Hassan Zaidi, was an Indian badminton singles player. He was eight-time National Badminton champion (1980–1987). His most notable achievement at the international badminton c ...

, but Garima successfully contested the legitimacy of that marriage. Both the High Court and

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

have declared the alleged mutual divorce between herself and Sanjay in 1995, which preceded his marriage to Ameeta, to be null and void. Sanjay has accepted the court rulings but maintains that Ameeta is his only legally wedded wife. Garima and Sanjay have a son and two daughters. Sanjay Singh was adopted by the king of Amethi, Rananjay Singh, as his heir prior to the abolition of all royal privileges in India and as such he inherited the former royal estates. In 1989, he had removed his wife Garima from the palace after beginning a relationship with Ameeta, who had recently been widowed. In 2014, Garima and her children took up residence at another palace in Amethi, called Bhupati Bhawan, and refused to evacuate the property. Local people gathered to support her, claiming that she, rather than Ameeta, was the real queen. Amidst claims and counter-claims, Anant Vikram Singh, who is Sanjay's son, has had the support of his mother in alleging that Ameeta has been undermining his future inheritance of various formerly royal properties. Sanjay denies the allegations, and also denies claims that the local people are not being looked after by the family in the manner that is customary. Garima claims that she entered the palace in support of her children, who all blame Ameeta for the troubles that have arisen since Sanjay and Ameeta began their relationship.

Political career

Singh contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election as a

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

candidate and defeated her nearest competitor, Gayatri Prasad from the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...

, with a margin of 5,065 votes. Another contestant in that election was Ameeta Singh, who stood as an

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

candidate. The BJP hoped to win the seat by exploiting local sympathy for Garima, who is a relative of V. P. Singh, a former

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

. Both women named Sanjay Singh as their spouse in their election affidavits. BJP spokespeople claimed the result was indeed one based on the electorate's feelings about the long-running family drama.

References

Living people Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh People from Amethi Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2017–2022 Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Indian women politicians Women members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly {{UttarPradesh-BJP-politician-stub