TNN | Apr 11, 2014, 03.31 AM IST

Joining Samant was Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who tweeted, “Modi accepts his marital status. Can women of this country trust a man who stalks a woman, deprives his wife of her right? Vote against Modi.”

Samant, in a statement, said, “Narendra Modi has disclosed this information, as there is a column in Election Commission’s form where you have to disclose the assets details of your relatives. This is the first time he has disclosed the name of his wife as he needed to provide these details. It’s very important as she has got justice after all these years. She is given respect and has been accepted as his wife. It’s my personal opinion it should be investigated as to why the EC did not compel him to disclose this in earlier elections. There was no need to give him a special status.”

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik said in Panaji, “Modi has to clarify why he filed a false affidavit in the last assembly election by not disclosing the name of his wife, and further, as to how and why he is not aware of the other relevant financial details of his wife.”

Claiming that he has verified the form filled by Modi, Naik said the BJP leader has mentioned “Mahiti Nathi” (information not known) in front of the columns pertaining to PAN card, financial year for which the last income-tax return has been filed, and total income shown in the income-tax returns. Naik said the concerned returning officer was duty-bound to direct the candidate to give the details which he has said “not known”, failing which nomination papers should be rejected.