Why Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of parliament ?
Gracy Anand
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary membership has been restored. Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP on March 23 and this all happened after Gujarat court blamed him for defamation case over using ‘Modi surname’ remarks and sentenced him to two years in jail.
On August 4, the Supreme court stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remarks.
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership restored
On April 13, 2019, Rahul was campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, and at an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, he said in Hindi: “Why do all thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, or Narendra Modi, have the surname ‘Modi’?”
The court further noted that the trial judge of a Surat court had not provided sufficient reasons for imposing the maximum sentence of two years.
The Congress leader had gone to the Supreme Court after the Gujarat High Court dismissed his petition last month seeking to put his conviction on hold while the session court heard his appeal to cancel the conviction altogether.
Former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi filed a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Rahul Gandhi .
A Surat court had, on March 23 this year, convicted Rahul Gandhi and sentenced him to two years in prison in the case. The very next day, he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi had filed a plea in the Supreme Court on July 15, contesting the Gujarat High Court’s order upholding the session court’s refusal to suspend his conviction.
But now , he’s returning. Congress leaders claimed moral victory
Opposition leaders from the INDIA alliance hailed Rahul Gandhi’s reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP, calling it a “victory of truth ”
The Supreme Court’s stay order essentially means that Rahul’s conviction will be kept in abeyance — as though it did not exist. His disqualification from Parliament flowed from the conviction — and with the grant of stay, no grounds any longer exist for it.
