Plea in Allahabad High Court against Rahul Gandhi election withdrawn

The Allahabad High Court on Monday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha. [S Vignesh Shishir v Rahul Gandhi & Ors].A Bench of Justice Ranjan Roy and Justice Om Prakash Shukla allowed the petitioner, a farmer from Karnataka, to withdraw the plea while granting him the liberty to pursue remedies under the Citizenship Act since the petitioner had disputed Gandhi's Indian citizenship. "The petition is dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to approach the competent authority under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 as far as it may be permissible in law," the Court said.The Court also made it clear that it has not adjudicated on the merits of the plea. "At this stage, petitioner appearing in person requested that it may be made clear that the Court has not adjudicated the merits of the issues. It is obvious from our order that we have not adjudicated merits of the issues," the order said. .The petitioner, S Vignesh Shishir, claimed that Rahul Gandhi is disqualified from holding the office of Member of Parliament (MP) as he is "not a citizen of Bharat, but rather a citizen of Britain."The plea said that Gandhi should be asked to explain under what authority of law he was serving as an MP for the Rae Bareli constituency.In support of his argument that Gandhi is a foreign citizen, the petitioner referred to documents filed by a UK firm, M/s Backdops Limited, in which Gandhi was stated to have been a director between 2003 and 2009.In documents filed by this company in 2006, Rahul Gandhi's nationality is shown as British, the plea highlighted..It also contended that Gandhi cannot continue as an MP since he was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail in 2023 by a Surat trial court in a defamation case.Therefore, Rahul Gandhi is disqualified from holding the office of MP, given the restrictions laid down in Section 8 (3) [disqualification on conviction for certain offences] of the Representation of Peoples Act, the plea stated.The petitioner added that even though the Supreme Court has stayed the conviction, Gandhi would still be disqualified from holding office as an MP. In this regard, the petitioner pointed out that the Supreme Court did not expressly permit Gandhi to contest in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections.When the matter came up for hearing, the Court asked the petitioner, who appeared in-person, as to what does he do for a living, since his petition was silent about his credentials.He submitted that he is a farmer living in Karnataka and was also member of a political party. After arguing the matter for about 20 minutes, the petitioner sought permission to withdraw the plea, so that he approach the competent authority referred to under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to raise his grievances regarding Gandhi's citizenship."We accept the request of the petitioner appearing in person," the Court said while allowing the petitioner the liberty to approach the competent authority.Deputy Solicitor General SB Pandey along with advocates Anand Dwivedi and Vijay Vikram Singh appeared for respondents..[Read Order]