Allahabad High Court Grants UOI 10 More Days To Decide On Representation To Cancel LoP Rahul Gandhi's Citizenship

A bench of Justice Attau Rehman Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I is presently dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed by a BJP Member from Karnataka (S. Vignesh Shishir), seeking a CBI probe into Gandhi's alleged British Citizenship.

During the course of the hearing today, Deputy Solicitor General of India, Surya Bhan Pandey, sought further time to decide on Gandhi's Citizenship. To which, the division posted the matter for hearing next on May 5.

It may be noted that Petitioner-Vignesh has already submitted a detailed representation-cum complaint to the Foreigners Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, wherein a request has been made to cancel Gandhi's Indian citizenship. The representation has been moved as per Rules and Regulations of S. 9 (2) of the 1955 Act r/w Rule 40 (2) of the Citizenship Rules 2009 and Schedule III of the 2009 Rules.

For context, Section 40 of the 2009 Rules deals with the Central Government's authority to determine whether, when, or how any citizen of India acquired the citizenship of another country.

Vignesh had moved this representation following the dismissal of a similar PIL plea (filed by the same petitioner) that was withdrawn earlier, with a liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent authority under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as far as it is permissible in law.

About Vignesh's petition

In his PIL plea, Petitioner Vignesh claims that after the HC dismissed his earlier PIL plea, he moved a detailed representation before the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, which is still pending.

His PIL plea also states that he made detailed enquiries into the issue, got several 'new inputs', and sent emails to the UK government seeking details about Gandhi's citizenship records.

In this process, the Petition further states that he learned that the UK government has already received a request from one VSS Sarma (respondent no. 14) seeking the details in 2022. After that, he (PIL petitioner-Vignesh) contacted Sarma, who agreed to share the 'confidential' emails he received from the UK Government.

The PIL petition alleges that in those 'confidential' emails (of 2022), the UK Government has indicated that it has records of Rahul Gandhi's British Nationality, and such 'personal data' is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulations as per the Country's Data Protection Act, 2018. However, the plea adds that the alleged mail further states that the Government can't provide information about Gandhi unless the UK Government gets a signed letter of authority from Gandhi.

Against this backdrop, the PIL plea claims that the alleged mail from the UK Government is an 'outright admission' that Gandhi is a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Therefore, the PIL pleads that the CBI conduct a detailed probe into the matter, obtain a Letter of Request from a competent court in India, and extract all government records and information available to the Government of the UK/Britain regarding Gandhi's citizenship.

The plea also asks for a direction from the Chief Election Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer UP, and the Returning Officer, Raebareli, to cancel Gandhi's electoral certificate.

It may be noted that on March 26, the UOI told the Delhi High Court that the matter concerning the issue of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is pending consideration with the Ministry of Home Affairs.