SC dismisses plea seeking to debar Rahul Gandhi from contesting LS polls

The Supreme Court on Thursday (May 9) dismissed a plea seeking direction to the Centre and the Election Commission to debar Congress President Rahul Gandhi from contesting Lok Sabha elections till the issue of his citizenship is decided.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the contention of the petitioners, Jai Bhagwan Goyal and Chander Prakash Tyagi , who 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.

“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, adding that the petition was “too frivolous and an attempt to start a roving inquiry”.

On April 30, the Home Ministry served a notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, asking him to clarify within a fortnight his “factual position” on a complaint questioning his citizenship status.