The Allahabad High Court last week allowed the withdrawal of a writ petition alleging that the Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a British national.

The petition, which also questioned Gandhi's right to hold the office of Member of the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli, was dismissed as withdrawn after the petitioners failed to produce a single document to support the allegations and claims in the plea.

A bench of Justice Shekhar B. Saraf and Justice Abhdesh Kumar Chaudhary was hearing the petition filed by Advocate Ashok Pandey and another seeking a writ of quo warranto against Rahul Gandhi, referred to in the petition as "Shri Rahul Gandhi @ Raul Vinci".

The plea was based on the "presumed ground" that he was not an Indian citizen but a citizen of Great Britain.

The Court noted that the petitioners had previously filed similar writ petitions in 2015 and 2019, raising the issue of Rahul Gandhi's alleged loss of Indian citizenship and seeking a declaration that he was a British national.

It noted that in the 2015 petition, a coordinate Bench had held that the remedy for such a grievance would lie before the Central Government, in view of Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The Court further recorded that, in the 2019 proceedings, a representation on the issue had already been filed with the Central Government and the same was pending consideration.

It also noted that the representation of petitioner no. 2 was filed on May 3, 2019, and was acknowledged by the Central Government on June 29, 2019. During its pendency, the petitioners approached several authorities, including the returning officer during the 2024 General Elections.

Against this background, the Court noted that the petitioners approached the High Court again, arguing that since no action had been taken by the competent authority on their representation, the Court should itself decide the issue on the merits.

The Bench, however, noted that identical prayers had already been made in at least four writ petitions.

The Court nevertheless heard the petitioner-in-person after he insisted on placing his case before the Bench.

The main submission was that Rahul Gandhi had incorporated a UK-based company, M/s Backops Limited, on August 21, 2003, with Companies House, Registrar of Companies of Britain.

According to the petitioners, Rahul Gandhi had apparently declared himself a director and major shareholder of the company and a British National. On this basis, the petitioners questioned how he could continue to be an Indian citizen and contest elections for membership of the Lok Sabha.

Considering these submissions, the Court observed that although the argument appeared attractive, the petitioners failed to substantiate their case with documentary evidence.

"...however, when he was asked as to what was the basis of his aforesaid submission, the petitioner could not show a single document on records relating to the formation of the company or the records of Registrar of Companies of Britain or any declaration to the effect that the aforesaid Shri Rahul Gandhi @ Raul Vinci has declared himself to be a British Citizen".

The bench noted that the only document relied upon by the petitioner-in-person was some alleged letter of confirmation issued by the University of Cambridge certifying the study of one Raul Vinci, which, the Court said, does not in any manner prove any of the allegations being contested in the present petition.

Unable to show supporting documents, petitioner no. 2 sought permission to withdraw the petition. The Court permitted the withdrawal and dismissed the writ petition as withdrawn.

Case title - Ashok Pandey And Another vs. Sri Rahul Gandhi @ Raul Vinci New Delhi And 2 Others 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 646

Case Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 646

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