Rahul Gandhi Indian citizenship: The Delhi High Court on Thursday (September 26) postponed the hearing of a case seeking direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide his representation seeking cancellation of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship till October 9.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice designate, Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked about the status of the pending petition on the issue before the Allahabad High Court. "Allahabad High Court is also hearing a similar petition, what is the status of hearing on the petition in Allahabad High Court?" the court asked. The court asked to present the details of the petition filed in Allahabad High Court in the court.
The petition was filed by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy regarding the issue of citizenship of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Subramanian Swamy said that he had filed the petition before the petition was filed in Allahabad High Court. The High Court, however, said that it would not be appropriate for two courts to hear the same issue.
Allahabad HC asks Centre about its decision
Earlier on September 25, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court asked the Centre whether it has taken any decision on a representation filed under the Citizenship Act, 1955 asking it to inquire into allegations that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has British citizenship.
A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Om Prakash Shukla was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by a BJP worker from Karnataka, S Vignesh Shishir.
In the PIL, the petitioner has claimed that he has done detailed enquiries into the issue of Gandhi being a British citizen and has got several new inputs. He also claimed to have accessed confidential e-mails from the UK government on the issue.
What is the case?
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, in his plea, also sought a direction to the MHA to furnish a status report on the representation filed by him against Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The plea, filed by advocate Satya Sabharwal, said that on August 6, 2019, Swamy had written a letter to the ministry on "violations" by Gandhi in "voluntarily disclosing" to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, amounting to holding a British passport.
The Congress leader, being an Indian citizen, has violated Article 9 of the Constitution, read with the Indian Citizenship Act, and would cease to be an Indian citizen, Swamy has said in his plea.
Swamy has said he has sent many representations to the ministry inquiring about the status of his complaint but neither any action has been taken nor he has been intimated about it.
(With PTI Inputs)
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