New Delhi:
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, recently disqualified from the Parliament after being sentenced to two years in prison over a 2019 defamation case, will challenge his conviction and sentencing in the Surat sessions court tomorrow, sources said. The former Congress president has, in his plea, asked the sessions court to set aside the Magistrate order convicting him in the defamation case. He also asked for an interim stay on the conviction till the matter is disposed of.
Rahul Gandhi was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to let him appeal the decision but was swiftly suspended by the Lok Sabha secretariat. Opposition leaders questioned the “bullet train” speed with which action was taken against him.
Unless Mr Gandhi’s conviction is put on hold by a higher court, the Election Commission will announce a special election for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. He will also not be allowed to contest elections for the next eight years.
The defamation case was filed against Mr Gandhi by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”
The former Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad made the remarks while addressing a rally in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, targetting PM Modi over his last name, which he shares with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
Mr Gandhi’s lawyer has argued the court proceedings were “flawed” from the beginning and also said that PM Modi, and not MLA Purnesh Modi, should have been the complainant in the case because the PM was the main target of Rahul Gandhi’s speech.
Days after disqualification, Mr Gandhi was served a notice to vacate his official Delhi bungalow, as he was no longer entitled to it. Congress called the move a ‘conspiracy’ to ‘silence’ Rahul Gandhi as he was asking tough questions in the Parliament on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged closeness with industrialist Gautam Adani, whose conglomerate has been accused of “pulling the largest con in corporate history” by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.
