Allahabad HC Asks UOI About Status Of BJP Worker's Representation To Home Ministry To Cancel Rahul Gandhi's Indian Citizenship

Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed by a BJP Member from Karnataka, seeking a CBI probe into Congress leader and LoP in LokSabha Rahul Gandhi's alleged British Citizenship, the Allahabad High Court today asked the Union of India about the proposed decision on the representation-cum-complaint sent by the PIL petitioner to the competent authority, under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, seeking cancellation of Gandhi's citizenship. A bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Om Prakash Shukla directed the ASG Surya Bhan Pandey to obtain instruction from the Union Home Ministry in the matter, after the PIL petitioner (S. Vignesh Shishir), appearing in person, claimed that he had 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 division passed this order after noting that a similar PIL plea (by the same petitioner) had been moved earlier, which was dismissed as withdrawn, with a liberty to the petitioner to the petitioner to approach the competent authority under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as far as it is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. Essentially, when the matter came up for hearing before the Court today, the PIL petitioner submitted before the Court that after the dismissal of his earlier petition (in July this year), he moved two representations with the Competent Authority in the Union Home Ministry seeking cancellation of Gandhi's Indian citizenship as per Rules and Regulations of S. 9 (2) of 1955 Act r/w Rule 40 (2) of the Citizenship Rules 2009 and Schedule III of 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. Further, when the PIL petitioner sought to press the prayer seeking a CBI probe into Gandhi's alleged British Citizenship, the division bench clarified that, at this moment, it was only concerned with whether the Union Home Ministry had received the said representation and what decision/action it proposed on it. The court directed the ASG to seek instructions in the matter and posted it for a further hearing on Monday, September 30. Averments made in the PIL plea 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 Govt 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, get a Letter of Rogatory from a competent court in India and extract all the Government records and information available with the Government of the UK/Britain regarding Gandhi's citizenship. The plea also prays for a direction to the Chief Election Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer UP, and Returning Officer, Raebareli, to cancel Gandhi's electoral certificate. It may be noted that Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's citizenship.

Allahabad HC Asks UOI About Status Of BJP Worker's Representation To Home Ministry To Cancel Rahul Gandhi's Indian Citizenship

Sparsh Upadhyay

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