The Allahabad High Court on Monday gave the Centre four weeks’ time to decide on Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship. The Lucknow bench of the High Court, comprising Justices AR Masoodi and Ajay Kumar Srivastava, heard the petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and set April 21 as the next date of hearing.
The Centre sought eight weeks to file the status report. In his complaint to the Union Home Ministry in 2019, Swamy alleged that Rahul Gandhi had declared himself a British citizen in documents submitted to British authorities. Swamy argued that this violated the Indian Constitution and the Citizenship Act and amounted to holding a British passport.
The BJP leader informed the court that the government had issued a show-cause notice to Rahul Gandhi, asking him to clarify his British citizenship. However, he did not respond, and the government took no further action. The court said, the prayer is not to decide on the substantive issues of the pending matter, whether here or in Allahabad. He is only seeking directions on his representations. Seek instructions regarding the stage of the proceedings concerning the letter.
This came months after the government had informed the Allahabad High Court that a petition alleging dual citizenship being held by the Congress Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi was being looked into. The Centre’s submission came while the court heard a plea filed by advocate and BJP leader Vignesh Shishir, who also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Gandhi’s citizenship.
The petitioner alleged that there was evidence suggesting Gandhi held British citizenship, citing emails purportedly obtained from the UK government as part of an earlier inquiry made by another individual, VSS Sarma.
According to the petitioner, Sarma had contacted UK authorities in 2022 for information on Gandhi’s citizenship. While the UK government reportedly confirmed some details, it declined to disclose complete information, citing data protection laws and the absence of a signed letter of authority from Gandhi. While the UK government reportedly confirmed some details, it declined to disclose complete information, citing data protection laws and the absence of a signed letter of authority from Gandhi.