Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday reached the Lok Sabha, where he was warmly received by various Opposition MPs. Before entering, he prayed in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi’s Parliamentary membership has been restored after 137 days, following the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend his sentence and conviction in a 2019 defamation case related to his “Modi surname” remark. The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification yesterday saying that his disqualification as a member of the Lok Sabha has been cancelled.
Earlier, on 23 March, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP by a Gujarat court after he was convicted in a defamation case and sentenced to two years in jail. A conviction of two years or more results in automatic disqualification as an MLA.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed the decision to restore Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary membership. Criticising the government, Kharge urged them to focus on real governance instead of targeting Opposition leaders and “undermining democracy”.
The Supreme Court on 4 August stayed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case and highlighted that the trial judge had not given sufficient reasons for the maximum sentence of two years.
Prior to his disqualification in March, Rahul Gandhi served as the MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala since 2019. He approached the Supreme Court after the Gujarat High Court rejected his plea to suspend his conviction.
The defamation case was filed in 2019 by former Gujarat Minister Purnesh Modi over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, where he questioned the prevalence of the surname “Modi” among thieves. The Surat court convicted him on 23 March, disqualifying him the next day.
Rahul Gandhi can Contest Next Election
Rahul Gandhi is the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress, National Students Union of India (NSUI) and a Trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. On 23 March 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment by a court in Gujarat for a 2019 speech made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on defamation allegations related to his surname, the conviction resulted in his disqualification from the Parliament. However, on 4 August 2023, the Supreme Court of India stayed his conviction, which allowed him to contest the next election and to be reinstated as an MP for Wayanad. On 7 August 2023, he was reinstated as a Member of Parliament.