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Swamy had filed a writ petition before the court alleging that Gandhi was a British citizen and had sought directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide on his representation to cancel Gandhi’s Indian citizenship.
The Delhi High Court, on Thursday, heard a writ petition filed by BJP Leader Subramanian Swamy questioning the citizenship status of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
In Thursday’s hearing of the case, Swamy’s counsel, Advocate Satya Sabharwal submitted before the court that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) did not respond to Swamy’s questions despite the latter providing his written submissions. He emphatically stated that this was an important matter and that he had been consistently seeking responses regarding it.
However, the division bench comprising ACJ Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela reserved their judgment in the matter citing a similar case being heard in the Allahabad High Court. The court opined that it would not be proper for two High Courts to hear two similar matters simultaneously.
The court further sought a copy of the plea filed before the Allahabad HC and stated that it would decide on whether or not to hear this matter after relevant details regarding the Allahabad case were provided.
ACJ Manmohan also directed the Central Government Standing Counsel Apoorv Kurup to furnish details regarding the ongoing case in the Allahabad HC.
Background
Per Swamy’s petition, he had lodged a complaint in August 2019, alleging that Rahul Gandhi owned a British passport, implying that he was a British citizen. He also claimed that the Ministry of Home Affairs did not respond to his queries.
He further alleged that by holding British citizenship, Gandhi would cease to be an Indian national as Article 9 of the Indian Constitution prohibits dual citizenship.
Swamy through his counsel Advocate Satya Sabharwal also filed a plea before the Supreme Court, stating that Gandhi was a British citizen and should not be allowed to contest elections.
However, the apex court dismissed his petition, observing that merely being recognized as a British national by a private company does not make somebody one.
Notably, Swamy had claimed in his petition that Gandhi was recognized as a British citizen by a private company, Backops Limited, established in 2003. He also stated that the Congress Leader had declared his nationality as British in the company’s annual returns, filed in 2005 and again in 2006.
Swamy mentioned in his petition that he had approached the MHA numerous times seeking updates, accusing the Ministry of “delaying the matter and keeping it pending.” However, the MHA stated that they had written to Gandhi in 2019, asking him to inform them regarding the factual position in this matter.
In May 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed a similar petition questioning Gandhi’s citizenship, filed by Delhi-based Chandra Prakash Tyagi and Jai Bhagwan Goyal. The bench of then-Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi scathingly observed “So some company in some form has mentioned Gandhi as a British citizen. So does that make him a British citizen?”
In August 2024, a bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Narula heard Swamy’s writ petition.
Observing that Swamy’s plea did not pertain to any “enforceable fundamental rights” as expected of a writ petition, the judge sent the matter to be heard before a bench of the court dealing with PILs.
The court noted that there was a larger public interest involved in the matter and had at the time listed it for September 26.
Interestingly, another PIL was filed before the Allahabad HC, by S. Vignesh Shishir, challenging Gandhi’s eligibility to serve as a Member of Parliament due to his foreign nationality. This was however dismissed by the court.
Case Title : Dr. Subramaniam Swamy V/s Union of India and Ors. (W.P. (C)11481/2024)
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