On Monday, the High Court of Allahabad granted more time to the Centre to place before it the outcome of a representation moved against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking cancellation of his 2024 parliamentary election owing to his alleged concealment of his British citizenship.

The Lucknow bench of the court also directed that the matter be listed in the week commencing April 21 for the next hearing.

A bench of Justices A R Masoodi & A K Srivastava passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) matter filed by S Vignesh Shishir, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker from Karnataka.

While hearing the PIL in November last year, the court had sought information from the BJP-led Centre regarding its decision on the petitioner’s representation.

The bench was apprised by the Centre’s counsel that the ministry concerned has written a letter to the British government, seeking details on Gandhi’s alleged British citizenship & hence, the government needs time to take a final decision on the petitioner’s representation seeking cancellation of the Congress leader’s election.

Since then, the Centre has sought more time on multiple occasions. It yet again sought time on Monday. The bench accordingly listed the matter in the week commencing April 21.

The petitioner has pleaded that he has all the documents & certain e-mails of the British government, which prove that Gandhi is a British citizen & hence, ineligible to contest elections in India & cannot hold the post of a Lok Sabha member.

The petitioner has also said he had twice sent complaints to the competent authority regarding Gandhi’s citizenship & the present petition was filed as no action was taken by it.

The petition also contends that the dual citizenship of Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, is a crime under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita & Passport Act & hence, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should be asked to lodge a case in the matter & launch a probe. 

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