In fact the issue was first raised by the opposition parties in 1990s––now Mandal is with them––when he was a minister in the cabinet of Lalu Yadav. The opposition then repeatedly demanded his resignation.
Mandal was not an ordinary leader of the party. He was the chief whip of Janata Dal (United) in the Lok Sabha. But his suspension has more to do with his anti-party activities during last year’s Assembly election and less to do with the court case. Apart from him the party recently suspended former state Janata Dal (United) chief, Lallan Singh, Aurangabad MP, Sushil Singh and newly-inducted Rajya Sabha MP, Upendra Kushwaha.
Mandal was dragged into the court by Vishnudeo Bhandari, a political activist of Madhubani district. Recently Mandal told the Patna high court that he does not know how many wives he has.

When Bhandari’s counsel S B K Mangalam asked Mandal to say how many wives he has he replied: It is not necessary to tell the number of wives he has.
When the question was repeated Mandal said he has no idea about the number of wives he has.
However, he later returned to court and sought permission of Justice V N Sinha and said he could not inform the court earlier that he has two wives.
However, the Janata Dal (United) MP could not explain why he did not disclose the number of wives in the court or in the Election Commission's affidavit when he was contesting Lok Sabha polls in 2009.
Interestingly, in the affidavit column of spouse(s), Mandal mentioned name of Arti Mandal as his wife, and not Sunita Devi, his first wife.
The petitioner moved the court for quashing of Mandal's election by pointing out that he violated the constitutional obligation by hiding the details of his spouses.
If the MP is guilty of practicing bigamy and hiding it the party is no less responsible as he was allotted ticket by the Janata Dal (United) leadership fully knowing that he lives with the second wife.

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