Govt tells HC it sought info from UK on Rahul Gandhi citizenship claim

The Centre has written to the UK government seeking details about claims that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had British citizenship, the Allahabad High Court was told on Monday.

After the submission, the Lucknow bench of the High Court granted time to the central government till May 5 to place before it the outcome of a representation moved against the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, seeking cancellation of his 2024 Lok Sabha election over claims that he had British citizenship.

A bench of Justices A R Masoodi and Rajiv Singh passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by S Vignesh Shishir, a BJP worker from Karnataka.

While hearing the PIL on November 25, the court sought information from the central government regarding its decision on the representation of the petitioner.

Deputy Solicitor General SB Pandey informed the court on Monday that acting on the petitioner's representation, the ministry concerned had written to the UK Government seeking details about Gandhi's alleged British citizenship and hence the government needed more time to take a final decision on the petitioner's representation.

The central government had earlier also sought more time in this regard.

In the PIL, the petitioner has claimed that he has documents and some emails of the British government which prove that Rahul Gandhi is a British citizen, and due to this, he is ineligible to contest elections in India and cannot hold the post of a Lok Sabha member.

The petitioner also said that he sent complaints twice to the competent authority regarding Rahul'Gandhi's alleged dual citizenship, but no action was taken by them.