Rahul Gandhi Disqualified from Lok Sabha after Arrest Verdict

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Rahul Gandhi Disqualified from Lok Sabha after Arrest Verdict

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from Lok Sabha, a day after a Surat court sentenced him in a criminal defamation case.

A notification from the lower House said Gandhi stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction, as per the terms of Article 102 (1)(e) of the Constitution and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment for his ‘why all thieves have Modi surname’ comment he allegedly made during the parliamentary election campaign in 2019. The court suspended the sentence for 30 days, so that Mr. Gandhi can appeal in a higher court. The court has given bail to him on ₹10,000 bond.

According to the Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951, which guides the disqualification of a legislator, the moment a Member of Parliament is convicted of any offence and sentenced for at least two years, she or he attracts disqualification.

Congress picks holes in the judgment: Congress leaders picked holes in the judgment and several senior lawyers too expressed surprise at Rahul being handed the maximum two-year sentence permissible for defamation. According to them conviction in defamation cases usually entails a symbolic punishment, ranging from a day’s jail term to a month’s. However, the minimum sentence required to disqualify a lawmaker — and ban him or her from contesting elections for six years after the completion of the sentence — is two years.

 

Oppn rallies behind Rahul Gandhi

Opposition parties across the country rallied behind Rahul Gandhi Friday. From senior Congress leaders to chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states, everyone hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led Central government over the move.

Senior leader Abhishek Singhvi said that the move was nothing but political vendetta on part of the BJP and that the Congress is planning to get a stay on his conviction so as to remove the basis of the disqualification.

While Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that if needed, the party will go to jail to save the country, fellow MP Shashi Tharoor  said that the move to disqualify Rahul bodes ill for our democracy.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, too, raised questions over the hasty nature of the disqualification. ‘Obviously, there are no voices of moderation in the BJP party or government. The net result is parliamentary democracy has suffered another cruel blow,’ he said.

Congress MP KC Venugopal saw the move as a conspiracy to stop Rahul Gandhi’s fight for truth. ‘The day Rahul Gandhi raised questions against Adani and PM Modi, this conspiracy was started to silence him. It’s a clear case of anti-democratic, dictatorship attitude of the BJP govt,’ he said.

The Trinamool Congress, too, rallied its support behind Rahul Gandhi. ‘In PM Modi’s New India, Opposition leaders have become the prime target of BJP. While BJP leaders with criminal antecedents are inducted into the Cabinet, Opposition leaders are disqualified for their speeches. Today, we have witnessed a new low for our constitutional democracy,” TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as an MP, Delhi  Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Prime Minister was scared of voices against his government. 'They convicted Rahul and then dismissed him from the Parliament. I have never seen a Prime Minister who is so scared of Opposition forces).’

RJD MP Manoj K Jha said the decision was ‘shameful and unfortunate’.  Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who has been at loggerheads with the BJP, said that the move to disqualify Rahul Gandhi was ‘killing democracy’. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) faction leader Priyanka Chaturvedi called it a ‘vindictive and shameful action.’

In a tweet, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said, 'It’s condemnable that the BJP is now using the criminal defamation route to target opposition leaders and disqualify them….. This comes on top of the gross misuse of ED/CBI against the opposition. Resist and defeat such authoritarian assaults.’

 

War of words between Opposition and BJP

Earlier, Opposition MPs held a brief meeting at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge’s office in the Parliament and then marched to the Rashtrapati Bhavan with posters saying 'democracy is in danger’. 

Earlier, leaders from Opposition parties, including the  Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United), DMK and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) among others, condemned the Surat court’s verdict saying it was a ‘conspiracy to stifle dissent and finish off the Opposition’. The Congress is framing this as part of the attack by a ‘dictatorial BJP government’ because he was ‘exposing their misdeeds and demanding a JPC into the Adani issue.’

Earlier, party national spokesperson and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted it was a judicial process and that the law would take its course if Gandhi abuses people. He rejected the Congress criticism of his conviction and asked whether the Opposition party wants 'complete freedom’ for him to ‘abuse’ others.

 

The disqualification law

According to the law, conviction triggers the process of his disqualification.

The Representation of The People Act (RPA), 1951 provides for disqualification for conviction in criminal cases. Section 8(3) states: ‘A person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.’

Under the RPA, Section 8(4) stated that the disqualification takes effect only ‘after three months have elapsed’ from the date of conviction. Within that period, lawmakers could file an appeal against the sentence before the High Court.

However, in the landmark 2013 ruling in ‘Lily Thomas v Union of India’, the Supreme Court struck down Section 8(4) of the RPA as unconstitutional.

In any case, the disqualification can be reversed if a higher court grants a stay on the conviction or decides the appeal in favour of the convicted lawmaker.


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