Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav were spotted seated in consecutive rows in the Lok Sabha during the election of BJP’s Om Birla as the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday. This marks their first joint tenure as Members of Parliament. They are the first couple from Uttar Pradesh to hold concurrent seats in the Lok Sabha. However, there have been other instances when couples held a seat in parliament simultaneously.
AK Gopalan Nambiar and Susheela Gopalan
The first instance of a married couple serving as Members of Parliament came from Kerala during the fourth Lok Sabha (1967-1971). AK Gopalan Nambiar, the inaugural Leader of the Opposition, and his wife Susheela Gopalan were elected together as members of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM). AKG, renowned as a freedom fighter and parliamentary stalwart, represented the Palghat constituency for six consecutive terms from 1952 to 1977. Susheela, a prominent trade unionist, secured her seat in the 1967 Lok Sabha elections from Chirayinkil.
Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Kishori Sinha
Bihar also witnessed two instances of married couples serving as MPs, with Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Kishori Sinha achieving this feat twice—in 1980 and 1984. Satyendra Narayan Sinha, hailing from Bihar’s Aurangabad district, won the Aurangabad seat six times starting from 1952, while Kishori Sinha earned her maiden Lok Sabha membership by winning the Vaishali seat in 1980. Satyendra Narayan Sinha shifted political affiliations multiple times, from Congress to Congress-O and later to the Janata Party, whereas Kishori Sinha contested and won her elections as a Congress candidate in 1980 and 1984.
Pappu Yadav and Ranjeet Ranjan
Another MP couple from Bihar, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and Ranjeet Ranjan, were elected as MPs simultaneously twice, representing different political parties. In 2004, Ranjeet Ranjan won the Saharsa seat on a Lok Janshakti Party ticket, while Pappu Yadav secured the Madhepura seat in a by-poll as a Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate. In 2014, Ranjeet Ranjan was elected as a Congress nominee from Supaul, and Pappu Yadav reclaimed the Madhepura seat on an RJD ticket.
Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav
The latest couple to join this list are Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), along with his wife Dimple, secured victories in the recent Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj and Mainpuri constituencies, respectively. Their party, SP, achieved notable success in Uttar Pradesh, winning 37 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. Akhilesh Yadav defeated BJP’s Subrat Pathak by a margin of 1.7 lakh votes, while Dimple Yadav emerged victorious over BJP’s Jaiveer Singh with a margin of 2.21 lakh votes.
Dharmendra and Hema Malini
During the tenure of the second Manmohan Singh government, actor-politician couple Dharmendra and Hema Malini were both elected to Parliament, though they served in different Houses. Hema Malini was a Rajya Sabha member from 2003 to 2009, while Dharmendra won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate from Bikaner, Rajasthan