New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday provided a massive relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as it stayed his conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark. The apex court’s ruling paving the way for the Gandhi scion to be reinstated as an MP in the Lok Sabha.
Gandhi represented Kerala’s Wayanad constituency before he was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP after his conviction in the aforementioned case by a district court in Gujarat’s Surat in March this year.
With his conviction being stayed by the Supreme Court, here’s what’s next for Rahul Gandhi:
The stay on his conviction will allow Rahul Gandhi to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The 53-year-old former Congress President is also set to make his return to the Lok Sabha as the Supreme Court ruling paves the way for his reinstatement as a MP.
Following the apex court’s stay order on Rahul Gandhi’s conviction, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, urged Speaker Om Birla to reinstate the former Wayanad MP as a member of the House. On this, the Speaker replied that was waiting to receive a copy of the Supreme Court’s order before can act.
How long will it take to restore Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership
Although there’s no specific time-frame for the reinstatement of a disqualified member even when all conditions for the same have been met, however, it is expected that the Congress scion’s return to the House will happen soon.
First, a formal copy of the Supreme Court’s order will be received by the officers of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, who after studying the details therein, would issue a formal order for restoring the Lok Sabha membership of Rahul Gandhi. The process does not have a given time-frame but is likely to happen soon due to the opposition’s united demand in this regard.
‘Any delay would be malafide, unfair’
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said it is to be seen how long will it take to reinstate Gandhi, noting just 24 hours were taken to disqualify him after his conviction on March 23 –one of the highest profile disqualifications of a sitting lawmaker upon their convictions.
“We want that Rahul Gandhi should speak on the ‘no-confidence motion’ against the government in the Lok Sabha,” Chowdhury told reporters. The discussion on the motion will be taken up from August 8 to 10.
Congress spokesperson and Gandhi’s counsel Abhishek Singhvi said Gandhi’s voice for the cause of the people will soon be heard in Parliament.
The Congress asserted that a delay in Gandhi’s re-instatement as MP on account of any “excuses” by the government would be “malafide”, “unfair” and completely contrary to the heart and soul of parliamentary democracy.
What does the stay order actually mean?
The Supreme Court’s order is strictly a temporary relief for Rahul Gandhi and in no way equals to a pardon or remittance of sentence. The order has merely put Gandhi’s conviction on hold, however, the defamation case against him will continue in the Surat sessions court. The Congress leader has filed an appeal for the cancellation of his conviction in the 2019 case at the sessions court and the stay order from the Supreme Court only stays in force till the Surat court passes a judgement on his appeal.
The criminal defamation case and Rahul Gandhi’s conviction
A criminal defamation case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi after the former made defamatory remarks against the Modi community during a poll rally in 2019
“How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Rahul Gandhi had said during an election rally in Kolar in Karnataka on April 13 in 2019.
On March 24 this year, a court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted Gandhi in the criminal defamation case and handed him a two-year prison term—the maximum possible sentence under Section 499 IPC—leading to him being automatically disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi challenged the conviction in a session court which granted him bail on April 20 and agreed to hear his plea, however, the court refused to put his conviction on hold.
On July 15, Rahul Gandhi moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Gujarat High Court’s ruling which upheld the session court’s refusal to stay the Congress leader’s conviction in the case.
(With PTI inputs)
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