'He Is A British Citizen': PIL In Allahabad High Court To Set Aside Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha Election From Rae Bareli

The PIL plea, filed by Karnataka resident S. Vignesh Shishir through advocate Ashok Pandey, also seeks a direction to the Lok Sabha speaker not to administer him, the oath of office and not permit him to function as a member of Parliament until the issue of his foreign citizenship is settled by the Home Affairs.

#JustIn | A PIL plea has been moved before the #AllahabadHighCourt to set aside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's election as an MP from the #RaeBareli #LokSabha seat on the ground that he is not an Indian Citizen but a British citizen and thus ineligible to contest the LS Polls. pic.twitter.com/xht3AtSQE6

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) June 21, 2024

The PIL plea also seeks the issuance of a writ of Quo Warranto asking Gandhi under what authority of law he is working as a Member of the Lok Sabha from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat. It also seeks a stay on his functioning as an MP.

“The petitioner is seeking the writ of Quo Warranto and other suitable writ for the reason that because of conviction and sentence of two years awarded by Surat court, Sri Rahul Gandhi was disqualified to be chosen as member of Parliament in view of the provision contained in article 102 r/w section 8 (3) of R.P. Act 1951 and also for the reason that he is citizen of Britain not of Bharat and so is disqualified to be chosen as Member of Parliament in view of the provisions contained in Article 84 (a) of the Constitution of Bharat,” the PIL plea submits.

The PIL plea contends that though the Supreme Court has stayed his conviction (in the Modi Surname Case), merely stay on conviction doesn't entitle him to contest the election because article 102 r/w section 8 (3) of R P Act created the disqualification for being chosen as or for being.

The PIL plea adds that Gandhi's election ought to be set aside because he is not a citizen of Bharat. He is a citizen of Britain and so is not eligible and qualified to be chosen as MP.

The PIL plea states that Gandhi was the director of M/s BACKOPS LIMITED and in the documents filed by the company with Companies House, United Kingdom, Government of United Kingdom (Britain), Gandhi mentioned his nationality as British.

“The fact is that as per the annual report filed with the Companies House, United Kingdom, Government of United Kingdom (Britain), Shri. Rahul Gandhi who was the Director of the Company named as M/s BACKOPS LIMITED bearing Company Number 04874597 from 21/08/2003 to 17/02/2009, has on the 31/10/2006 filed a return in which he mentioned his nationality as BRITISH,” the PIL plea claims.

Further, the PIL plea claims that many representations were sent to the various authorities, including the Chief Election Commissions and Chief Electoral Officers at Wayanad and Rae Bareilly. However, no action was taken on such representations.

The PIL plea also submits that the day Gandhi acquired British citizenship, he ceased to be a citizen of Bharat, and if he acquired Bhartiya citizenship after 2003/2006, he should have filed the same with his nomination paper.

“…but in place of doing so, he simply mentioned himself as a citizen of Bharat, which is incorrect as by operation of law in section 9 of Citizenship Act, Sri Rahul Gandhi has ceased to be a citizen of Bharat from the date he acquired the citizenship of Britain,” the PIL plea says.

The matter is likely to come up for a hearing next month.

In 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea by two private persons to restrain Gandhi from contesting the 2019 General Elections until the determination of the 'dual citizenship' issue upon his supposedly procuring British citizenship.