Picture : Twitter / Congress@INCIndia
In a major relief for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking to direct the Election Commission of India to debar him from contesting the Lok Sabha polls after he had “voluntarily acquired British nationality.’ The SC also rejected a plea seeking a probe into Rahul’s citizenship.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the contention of the petitioners, 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.
On 1 May, the home ministry sent Rahul a notice seeking a response to charges that he held British citizenship.
The Ministry of Home Affairs sought Rahul’s response over a complaint filed by BJP’s Subramanian Swamy in 2017.
Swamy had originally alleged that Rahul’s nationality was registered as British in the annual returns of a firm registered in the United Kingdom.
