Plea seeking to revoke Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship to be heard in Allahabad High Court today

The Allahabad High Court will be hearing a plea seeking the revocation of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship. This is the third plea by the same petitioner, Vignesh Shishir, seeking similar relief, a Bar and Bench report said.

The earlier two pleas were junked by the High Court. The plea also seeks to ban the Congress MP from travelling abroad until the citizenship issue is resolved. A Bench of Justice Attaur Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I will hear the matter.

Rahul Gandhi's citizenship issue

In April, during the last hearing, the court had expressed dissatisfaction with the status report by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to directly address whether Gandhi is an Indian citizen. The bench had then granted 10 days for the government to submit a revised report, explicitly answering the question of Gandhi's citizenship status following a petition filed alleging that the Congress MP has dual citizenship.

The court was hearing a plea that claimed Rahul Gandhi is also a citizen of the United Kingdom, which would make him ineligible to be a member of the Lok Sabha.

The petition claims that Rahul Gandhi's alleged citizenship of another country contravenes Indian law, which doesn't permit dual citizenship.

In March this year, the Centre had informed the Delhi High Court that the issue over Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship was under consideration with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to a PTI report, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had asked the MHA to decide on Gandhi's citizenship.

“The matter is under consideration,” Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said. The bench was also informed that the Allahabad High Court, which was seized of a similar case, had recently granted four weeks' time to the ministry to apprise it about the outcome of the proceedings.

Subramanian Swamy's allegations

In 2019, the MHA issued a notice to Gandhi regarding his citizenship after receiving a complaint from then Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy.

An ANI report said Swamy has alleged that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in 2003 and that Gandhi was one of its Directors and secretaries.

Subramanian Swamy has also stated that the Congress leader had declared his nationality as British in a UK-based company.

"It has been further brought out in the complaint that in the Company's Annual Returns filed on October 10, 2005, and October 31, 2006, your date of birth has been given as June 19, 1970, and that you had declared your nationality as British. Further, in the Dissolution application dated 17/02/2009 of the above-referred company, your nationality has been mentioned as British," the notice read.

(With inputs from agencies)