New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed Thursday a plea seeking direction to the Centre and the Election Commission (EC) to debar Congress president Rahul Gandhi from contesting Lok Sabha elections till the issue of his citizenship is decided.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the contention of the petitioners, who said that in a form along with the annual data of a UK-based company in 2005-06, it was allegedly mentioned that Rahul is a British citizen.
“If some company in some form mentions his nationality as British, does he become a British citizen,” the bench also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna told the petitioners.
It should be stated here that Ministry of Home Affairs, last week had sought clarification from the Congress chief regarding his citizenship status. Rahul has all through maintained that he is an Indian citizen. When the allegations first surfaced, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi had rubbished it stating, ‘Rahul is as much an Indian citizen as anyone else’. She had also blamed the BJP for unnecessary stirring up the controversy.