New Delhi: Lok Sabha secretariat issued a notification of disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the Member of Parliament following his conviction by the Court.
By law, Rahul Gandhi, a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, faced instant disqualification the moment he stood convicted by a Surat Court on Thursday in a 2019 defamation case over his comments “How come all thieves have Modi surname?”
The Lok Sabha secretariat has also forwarded the notification to the Election Commission to declare the Wayanad seat vacant and issue a poll notification.
Congress plans to move the sessions court to get the conviction stayed. Congress president’s disqualification can be revoked only if a higher court stays the conviction.
However, if Rahul Gandhi failed to get stay on conviction, he won’t be eligible for elections for 8 years and in this, he won’t be able to contest the 2024 general elections.
Congress to fight the battle legally and politically
The Congress vowed to fight the battle legally and politically with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge set to meet all state presidents today to finalise an outreach campaign about “victimisation of Gandhi and vendetta politics to silence his questioning of the alleged PM Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani links.”
Congress plans to turn the disqualification of Gandhi into a political issue. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi reacted angrily over the conviction and vowed to fight it.
AAP also came in support of Rahul Gandhi and termed the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi unfortunate and appealed to everyone to stand against the decision.
