A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court and sentenced to two years in jail in a defamation case over his Modi surname remark, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification Friday, announcing that he is no longer a member of the Lower House.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, which he represented, is now vacant. Gandhi, who was serving his fourth Lok Sabha term, will be barred from contesting elections for eight years unless the conviction is stayed by a higher court.
The Congress called the disqualification an attempt to “silence” his voice and said it would fight the battle legally and politically. The BJP dismissed the charge and said the disqualification was “lawful”.
The Secretariat notification was issued hours after Gandhi made a brief appearance in Lok Sabha.
Reacting to the notification, Gandhi, in a Twitter post in Hindi, said, “Mein Bharat ki awaz ke liye ladh raha hoon. Mein har keemat chukane ko taiyyar hoon (I am fighting for the voice of India and I am ready to pay any price for it).”
Earlier, he entered the Lok Sabha minutes before 11 am – when the day’s proceedings commenced – and stood near his seat, watching his agitated party colleagues who said he should be allowed to make a statement on the floor of the House, but that did not happen.
Gandhi was convicted Thursday by a Surat court in the defamation case over his Modi surname remark during a public rally in Karnataka in 2019. His two-year jail sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal.
After the sentencing, his lawyer Kirit Panwala, who plans to approach the Surat sessions court, had submitted an application, seeking time to file an appeal.
The application stated: “We are not satisfied with the present court order, so under CrPC Section 374(3), we have got the right to go to the Court of Session for appeal. This will consume a lot of time… We want one month from the court to go for an appeal in the higher court against the sentence.”
Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Verma suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow Gandhi to file an appeal.
But the conviction automatically disqualified him as a Member of Parliament under the Representation of the People Act.
According to Section 8 (3) of Act, the moment a Member of Parliament is convicted of any offence and sentenced for at least two years, she or he attracts disqualification.
The notification came an hour after the House adjourned following the passage of the Finance Bill with amendments, but without any discussion amid noisy protests from Opposition MPs.
“Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Surat in C C /18712/2019, Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” the notification, issued by Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh, stated.
Copies of the notification were forwarded to Rahul Gandhi; President’s Secretariat; Prime Minister’s Secretariat; Rajya Sabha Secretariat; Election Commission of India; all Ministries/Departments of Government of India; Chief Electoral Officer, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Liaison Officer, Directorate of Estate, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi; Secretary, New Delhi Municipal Council, New Delhi; Liaison Officer (Telephones), Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi; all officers and branches of Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The notification drew strong condemnation from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior party leaders K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor as well as several Opposition leaders including TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao.
Sources in the Lok Sabha Secretariat said the notification had to be issued immediately as Gandhi had come to the House.
“Since he came to the House in the morning, which he should not have as the conviction of Surat court for two years automatically disqualified him from Lok Sabha membership, the Secretariat was compelled to issue the notification immediately. Otherwise, our stand would have been questioned in court,” a source said.
When the Lok Sabha met at 11 am, Gandhi was already there and stood up when Speaker Om Birla came in. As the Speaker called for the start of Question Hour, Congress leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Gaurav Gogoi and K Suresh stood up and asked the Chair to let Gandhi speak.
Gandhi was standing near his seat and his mother and MP Sonia Gandhi was sitting in the front row. With the Speaker not obliging, Congress MPs rushed to the Well of the House, demanding that Gandhi be allowed to speak. “Bolne do, bolne do, Rahul Gandhi ko bolne do (Let Rahul Gandhi speak),” shouted some of the Congress MPs.
The Speaker adjourned the proceedings to meet again at noon and Gandhi walked out of the House. When the House reconvened at noon to pass the Finance Bill, Gandhi did not return.
– With ENS from Surat
Rahul Gandhi leaves parliament building in New Delhi, Friday, March 24, 2023. (PTI Photo) 
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