The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday granted four-week time to the Union Home Ministry to take a decision on the issue of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship.
The high court order came on a Public Interest litigation (PIL) filed by a BJP member from Karnataka, S. Vignesh Shishir who had sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into Gandhi’s alleged British citizenship.
During the hearing, Deputy Solicitor General Surya Bhan Pandey sought further two months to take a decision on the issue, but the court posted the matter for hearing next on April 21.
In his PIL, the petitioner claimed that he had submitted a detailed representation before the Union home ministry on the issue, which is still pending.
Under Indian law, dual citizenship is not allowed.
He also argued that he had got some “new inputs” about the Raebareli MP’s alleged British citizenship and the “confidential emails” the British government had sent to one V.S.S. Sarama who is the respondent no.14 in the case.
The PIL further claimed that the British government in its communication with Sarma indicated that it has records of Gandhi’s British citizenship.
The UK government, however, cannot not provide further information on this without a signed letter of authority from the Congress leader.
Besides a CBI probe, the petitioner also sought a direction to the Election Commission to cancel Gandhi’s electoral certificate.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court is hearing a similar petition filed by former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy who claimed that a now-defunct UK company had listed Gandhi as a British national in some its records.
