Clicky
World

India’s SC rejects plea seeking to debar Rahul Gandhi from polls


Published : 09 May 2019 08:35 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 01:09 PM

The Indian Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea seeking direction to debar Congress President Rahul Gandhi from contesting the parliamentary elections till the issue of his citizenship is decided. A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, rejected the contention of the petitioners that in a form along with the annual data of a UK-based company in 2005-06, it was allegedly mentioned that Rahul Gandhi is a British citizen. "If some company in some form mentions his nationality as British, does he become a British citizen?" the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna told the petitioners. Rahul is contesting the elections from two constituencies—Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala. The petitioners Jai Bhagwan Goyal and Chander Prakash Tyagi said that in a form along with the annual data of a UK-based company in 2005-06, it was allegedly mentioned that Rahul Gandhi is a British citizen and sought a direction from the apex court to the Election Commission to debar Rahul from contesting poll till his citizenship issue was decided. Separately, Rahul was asked by the Indian Home Ministry last month to respond to a complaint made by BJP lawmaker Subramanian Swamy that the Congress chief is a British citizen.