Allahabad High Court asks Home Ministry about status of query on Rahul Gandhi citizenship

The Allahabad High Court Wednesday asked the Central government to furnish details about the status of a representation before the Home Ministry which claimed that Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi holds United Kingdom (UK) citizenship.

A Bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Om Prakash Shukla directed Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Surya Bhan Pandey to obtain instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs in this regard.

The Court was hearing a plea filed by one S Vignesh Shishir who has sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Gandhi's citizenship.

The High Court had in July allowed Shishir to withdraw a similar plea and granted him the liberty to pursue remedies under the Citizenship Act.

Shishir has now moved the High Court for a decision on his representations.

During the hearing today, Shishir informed the Court that after withdrawing his earlier plea before the High Court, he submitted two representations to the competent authority in the Union Home Ministry.

These representations sought cancellation of Gandhi's Indian citizenship on the ground of his alleged British citizenship.

While Shishir has sought a CBI probe in the matter, the Court today clarified that its current focus was solely on whether the Centre had received the representations and what decision or action it proposed to take regarding it.

Shishir claimed that he conducted a thorough investigation into the matter and said the confidential information he was able to access revealed that Gandhi holds British citizenship.

As per his plea, one VSS Sarma had in 2022 sought details about Gandhi's citizenship from the UK government.

It was claimed that in response to Shishir's request, Sarma shared the confidential emails he had received from the UK government.

While it has been claimed that the emails indicate Gandhi holds British nationality, the plea also states that due to data protection laws in the UK, the authorities there have declined to reveal complete information without a signed letter of authority from Gandhi.

The Court will hear the matter next on September 30.

A similar public interest litigation filed before the Delhi High Court by former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy is pending before the Delhi High Court.