Rahul Gandhi disqualified a day after his conviction in defamation case

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from the Lok Sabha a day after being convicted in a defamation case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The notification was issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat. The Surat Court in Gujarat had yesterday sentenced him to two years in a defamation case filed in 2019 over his remarks about Modi’s surname.

With this, Rahul will be banned from contesting elections for six years. The Surat court had also granted bail by freezing the sentence for 30 days pending an appeal. However, the action of the Lok Sabha Secretariat comes before the intervention of the Supreme Court.

"Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023 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," the Lok Sabha secretariat said in a notification issued by today. The order was issued by Lok Sabha secretary Utpal Singh.

The case was filed against Rahul by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying ‘how come all thieves have the common surname Modi?’

Rahul made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, targeting Modi over his last name which he shares with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.

Many senior Congress leaders responded after the verdict.