Centre To Respond In High Court On Plea To Revoke Rahul Gandhi’s Citizenship

Allahabad High Court has directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide on a plea seeking revocation of the Indian citizenship of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over allegations that he holds dual British citizenship. The Lucknow bench passed the order on 25 November, and the case is scheduled for further hearing on 19 December.

Deccan Chronicle reported that Deputy Solicitor General of India had stated to the court that MHA received petitioner’s representation. It has directed Additional Solicitor General SB Pandey to gather updates from the MHA within three weeks and appear before the court on its next date for presentation. A PIL has been filed by S. Vignesh Shishir, who is a Karnataka BJP worker seeking a CBI inquiry to scrutinize Gandhi’s citizenship.

Earlier, on November 6, the Delhi High Court learned of a CBI inquiry initiated into the matter. This case stemmed from BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s petition urging the MHA to address his representation seeking Gandhi’s citizenship cancellation and to provide a status report.

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Shishir had earlier withdrawn a similar plea in July, choosing instead to seek redress under the Citizenship Act. He had later made two fresh representations to the MHA. The court clarified that its focus now was on whether the central government had received the representations and what it was proposing to do about it, not on the general allegations.