Rahul must personally apply for domicile in Amethi

Turning down an application moved by a local leader on behalf of Rahul Gandhi for a domicile certificate from Amethi, district authorities said the Congress vice president will have to personally make the request.

Authorities said the earlier request made by Congress leader Rajendra Singh was turned down because "proxy requests in such cases cannot be entertained".

Singh had made the request for temporary residence certificate for Gandhi as this was mandated by the Election Commission in its guidelines for Lok Sabha candidates, specially for opening a bank account specific for election-related expenses.

District Magistrate Jagatraj Tripathi said the request will have to be made by Gandhi himself, with dues signatures and appended with requisite paper work.

This, the official said, was missing in the present request.

Gandhi will have to make a fresh request before the district authorities before April 16, when he files his nomination papers from Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

The application to obtain a "temporary residential certificate" was earlier denied by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) based on a report submitted by the 'tehsildar' (revenue officer).

Officials told IANS that Congress leader Rajendra Singh had applied for the certificate, with the Sanjay Gandhi guest house in Munshiganj area shown as the temporary address of Rahul Gandhi.

Sub-divisional magistrate R.D. Ram asked the tehsildar to conduct the mandated procedural detailing but the report from the latter said the certificate cannot be granted as the place of residence shown was a government guest house.

Officials further said the applicant also has to furnish "verifiable proof of spending a considerable span of time in such a place of residence".

Rahul Gandhi's name also does not figure in the voters' list of Amethi and his permanent address and name appear in New Delhi, the officials added.