Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party founder, died at the age of 82 on Monday, October 10, 2022, after suffering from a prolonged illness. He was admitted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, Haryana.

The hospital had stated in a health advisory that Mulayam had deteriorated to a critical condition on Saturday and was receiving life-saving treatment.

Also read: Mulayam Singh Yadav: Age, wives, family, net worth

The Samajwadi Party founder and three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, became well-known in UP politics in the 1970s, a period of significant social and political turmoil.

Malti Devi was the first wife of this veteran leader and three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The couple married in 1957, and are the parents of the former chief minister and current Leader of Opposition in the UP Legislative Assembly, Akhilesh Yadav.

Who was Malti Devi?

Malti Devi, the first wife of Mulayam Singh Yadav, was born in 1943 in the village of Saifai in UP’s Etawah district. Not much is known about her life prior to her marriage to Singh. The couple tied the knot in 1957. 

Also read: Mulayam Singh Yadav death: The Yadav family in Uttar Pradesh politics

In 2003, at the age of 60, Malti Devi breathed her last in her ancestral home in Saifai as a result of a heart attack. She was reportedly in a vegetative state from 1974 that resulted from medical complications during the birth of Akhilesh Yadav, the couple’s only son. 

Also read: Who was Mulayam Singh Yadav?

When Malti Devi passed away, Akhilesh was with her in her ancestral home in Saifai. Mulayam Singh Yadav married Sadhna Gupta in the same year that Malti Devi passed away. Yadav reportedly was having an affair with Sadhna Gupta while still in a marriage with Malti Devi