HC disposes of petition alleging Rahul Gandhi’s dual citizenship
PIL filed by BJP worker S Vignesh Shishir from Karnataka, claiming that Gandhi is a citizen of Britain as well as India, making him ineligible to contest elections under Article 84 (A) of the Constitution.
LUCKNOW The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday disposed of the petition alleging that Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, holds dual citizenship of India and the United Kingdom and allowed the petitioner to explore other alternative legal remedies.
The PIL was filed by BJP worker S Vignesh Shishir from Karnataka, claiming that Gandhi was a citizen of Britain as well as India, making him ineligible to contest elections under Article 84 (A) of the Constitution.
A bench of Justices AR Masoodi and Rajeev Singh passed the order on Monday on the petition seeking a CBI probe into Rahul’s citizenship matter. It said that as the central government is not able to give any time limit to resolve the petitioner’s complaint, there is no justification to keep this petition pending.
With this observation, the court disposed of the petition permitting the central government to continue the probe into the matter.
Deputy solicitor general SB Pandey, who appeared for the central government, informed about the order passed by the court on Monday.
On November 25, 2024, the court had asked the central government to furnish details about the action taken on a representation before the Union home ministry, which claimed that Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi holds United Kingdom (UK) citizenship.
As per an earlier order of the court, the required response could not be placed, and central government counsel SB Pandey had sought more time to place the same.
The counsel had stated that the matter is under active consideration by the Union of India. He requested for and was granted further time to apprise the court about the outcome of the ongoing exercise.
In July 2024, the HC had allowed Shishir to withdraw a similar petition and granted him the liberty to pursue remedies under the Citizenship Act. Shishir has now again moved the high court for a decision on his representations. He informed the court that after withdrawing his earlier petition before the high court, he submitted two representations to the competent authority in the Union home ministry.
These representations sought the cancellation of Gandhi’s Indian citizenship on the grounds of his alleged British citizenship. Shishir has also requested a CBI probe into the matter.
