The Supreme Court on Thursday, 9 May, dismissed a petition raising the issue of alleged “dual citizenship” of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
The petition sought to debar Rahul from contesting the Lok Sabha elections after he had “voluntarily acquired British nationality,” reported ANI.
“We dismiss the petition. There is no merit in the petition,” Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said.
The petitioners contended 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 comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said.
The Home Ministry recently served a notice to Gandhi asking him to clarify his “factual position” on a complaint questioning his citizenship status, according to PTI.
The plea filed in the apex court has said that the petitioners were “dissatisfied” with the inaction of the Centre and the poll panel in deciding the question of voluntary acquisition of British citizenship by Gandhi in spite of a November 2015 communication by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in this regard.
The petitioners, Jai Bhagwan Goyal and CP Tyagi have alleged that since prima facie evidence in this regard has been produced before the Home Ministry and the EC, Gandhi should not have been allowed to contest the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The plea was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
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