New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday 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, 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.
The plea had 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.
The petitioners Jai Bhagwan Goyal and CP Tyagi had 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 from parliamentary constituencies he has decided to — Amethi in Utter Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala.
The plea, filed by advocate Barun Kumar Sinha, had also sought a direction to the EC to remove Gandhi’s name from “electoral roll till the decision of the question of acquisition of his British citizenship”. (PTI)