Rahul Gandhi ‘Disqualified’ From His Position in Lok Sabha
NEW DELHI: Following his conviction by a Surat court regarding a criminal defamation case, Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified as a member of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament.
A Surat Court found the leader of the Congress party guilty in a defamation case against him regarding his “Modi surname” remark on Thursday it also gave a punishment of 2 years of jail.
Rahul Gandhi had allegedly remarked, "how come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" Against which, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, Purnesh Modi has filed a case against the Congress leader.
Following this development, Rahul Gandhi was expelled from the Lok Sabha on Friday. A notification came from the Lok Sabha Secretariat regarding the matter. It mentioned, “Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat in C.C./18712/2019, Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction, i.e. 23 March, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(I)(e) of the constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”
The representative of the Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha had attended Lok Sabha briefly on Friday before the House was adjourned for an hour soon after it was convened.
Multiple leaders of the Indian National Congress Party had called this judgment as politically motivated and blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for moving their leader out of the Lok Sabha.
The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma held Rahul Gandhi guilty under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. He was also granted bail immediately and the sentence was suspended for a period of thirty days allowing him to appeal in a higher court. He however has the option to escape disqualification from his position if the appellate court decides to suspend the conviction.
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