Complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi's Raebareli nomination: ‘He is a British citizen’

Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from the Raebareli seat -HT photo

A complaint has been filed against Rahul Gandhi for filing his nomination from the Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh. The complaint raises a question about Rahul Gandhi’s nationality and his recent conviction in a defamation case, and how his nomination can be deemed valid by the Election Commission.

The complaint was filed by advocate Ashok Pandey on behalf of Anirudh Pratap Singh. The complaint against Gandhi was registered by the advocate with the Returning Officer of Raebareli, demanding the cancellation of the Congress leader’s nomination on the basis of two grounds – his nationality and his conviction.

Pandey told ANI, “First, Rahul Gandhi has been convicted for two years… He is ineligible to contest elections. Even though the Supreme Court has put a stay on Rahul Gandhi’s conviction, it has not given any verdict like Afzal Ansari saying he can contest again… Since his stay on conviction does not involve permission to contest elections he should back off.”

“Second, back in 2006, Rahul Gandhi once mentioned his Nationality as British. Being a British citizen, he cannot Constitutionally contest elections… After my complaint, Rahul Gandhi’s representative was called in and my complaint has been accepted,” the advocate further said.

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Congress leader Ajay Pal Singh issued a statement regarding the complaint against Rahul Gandhi, saying that his nomination was held valid before, and still hold valid now.

The Congress leader said, “There’s a candidate who registered a complaint against Rahul Gandhi after the period of complaining was over… The complainant said he has filed a writ challenging Rahul Gandhi’s nationality… Rahul Gandhi’s nomination was valid previously as well, and it is valid now also.”

Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from the Raebareli constituency on Friday, putting an end to the speculations of him contesting the elections from Amethi again. Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma will contest the election from Amethi, against Union Minister and BJP candidate Smriti Irani.

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Attacking Rahul Gandhi for not contesting from Amethi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, “I had said that shehzade (Rahul Gandhi) is afraid of losing in Wayanad, and the moment voting ends, he will start looking for a third seat. Now even from Amethi, despite all his loyalists saying it, he panicked so much, he ran from there and is now looking towards Raebareli. These people keep going around telling people Daro Mat. Today I will also tell them… ji bhar ke kehta hoon. Arey daro mat, bhaago mat.”

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