New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha Friday, a day after the Wayanad MP was convicted in a defamation case in Surat and handed a two-year prison term.
Rahul Gandhi – Congress MP from Wayanad, Kerala – disqualified as a Member of Lok Sabha following his conviction in the criminal defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark. pic.twitter.com/SQ1xzRZAot
— ANI (@ANI) March 24, 2023
The party reacted immediately, with President Mallikarjun Kharge saying, “We will continue to fight. The strategy from here will be discussed within the party.”
The veteran leader added: “They (BJP) tried all ways to disqualify him. They don’t want to keep those who are speaking the truth but we will continue to speak the truth. We’ll continue to demand JPC (on the Adani-Hindenburg issue)). If needed, we’ll go to jail to save democracy.”
A notification from the Lok Sabha Secretariat Friday said the MP stood disqualified from the date of his conviction – 23 March – “in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)[e] of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951”.
Incidentally, after Thursday’s conviction, Rahul stood automatically disqualified from Parliament, according to a Supreme Court judgment of 2013.
In the Lily Thomas versus Union of India case, the Supreme Court had ruled that “any MP, MLA or MLC who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of 2 years’ jail loses membership of the House with immediate effect”.
The court had scrapped the Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal against their conviction, calling it “unconstitutional”.
Shocked but resolute reactions started pouring in as soon as Rahul’s disqualification was announced.
Maharashtra party leader Prithviraj Chauhan said they had “suspected this as soon as the two years jail term was pronounced”. “This is essential to cancel anyone’s membership (of the House). They could have pronounced a 6-month or 1-year jail term but the 2 years’ term meant that they had a further plan and they did it today. I condemn this action. This shows how scared Narendra Modi is of Rahul Gandhi.”
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Source: The Print
