LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday granted the Central Government time until April 21, 2025, to decide on the cancellation of Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition and Congress MP from Rae Bareli, is facing allegations of holding British citizenship, as claimed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Karnataka-based BJP worker S. Vignesh Shishir.
The PIL sought a CBI probe into Gandhi’s alleged foreign citizenship. Vignesh had earlier submitted a detailed representation to the Foreigners Division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, urging the cancellation of Gandhi's Indian citizenship. The representation was filed under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, read with Rule 40(2) and Schedule III of the Citizenship Rules, 2009.
During the hearing, a Division Bench comprising Justice Attau Rehman Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I was informed by Deputy Solicitor General of India Surya Bhan Pandey that the representation seeking cancellation of Gandhi's citizenship was still under consideration.
Pandey sought two more months to reach a decision, but the court denied the request and scheduled the next hearing for April 21.
Advocate Ashok Pandey, representing the petitioner, stated that the representation for cancellation of Gandhi’s citizenship was initially filed in 2019, yet the Union Home Ministry had not taken any action.
The PIL also mentioned that after the High Court dismissed an earlier plea, the petitioner conducted further inquiries and obtained new inputs. Vignesh allegedly reached out to the UK government via email to request records regarding Gandhi’s citizenship.
The plea further stated that a similar request had been made in 2022 by one VSS Sarma, who later agreed to share confidential emails from the UK government.
According to the petitioner, the emails suggested that the UK government possessed records related to Gandhi’s British nationality but refused to disclose them without a signed letter of authority from Gandhi himself. The PIL argued that this response was an admission of Gandhi’s foreign nationality.
In light of this, the PIL demanded a CBI investigation into the matter, along with a Letter Rogatory from a competent Indian court to obtain government records and information from the UK.
It also urged the Chief Election Commissioner of India, the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, and the Returning Officer of Rae Bareli to cancel Gandhi’s electoral certificate.