What SC order on Rahul Gandhi means: Grounds of disqualification no longer exist, he could return as MP

The disqualification is essentially nullified for now. A Surat Sessions court is currently hearing an appeal against the trial court judgment. Rahul’s disqualification will remain in abeyance until that appeal process is concluded.

In a 2018 decision in ‘Lok Prahari v Union of India’, the Supreme Court had clarified that the disqualification “will not operate from the date of the stay of conviction by the appellate court”.

Does this mean that there will be no byelection to fill the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat?

It is unlikely. Even though the disqualification is yet to be formally revoked by the Lok Sabha Speaker, the grant of the stay has removed the grounds for the disqualification.

The SC Bench said on Friday that the conviction has wider ramifications, and affects not only Rahul’s public life but also the rights of the electorate which chose him as their representative.

Can Rahul return to Parliament as a consequence of this decision?

This should happen in the normal course after the Lok Sabha secretariat formally revokes the disqualification. His perks as MP should also follow.

What is the background of this case?

On April 13, 2019, Rahul was campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, and at an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, he said in Hindi: “Why do all thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, or Narendra Modi, have the surname ‘Modi’?”

He was making a rhetorical reference to the fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi and the former cricket administrator Lalit Modi, both of whom face allegations of financial fraud.

The day after Rahul’s speech, a Gujarat BJP leader and former Gujarat state minister, Purnesh Modi, filed a private complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat, accusing the Congress leader of having defamed everyone with the name Modi.

On March 23, 2023, Magistrate H H Verma found Rahul guilty of criminal defamation under IPC Section 500, and gave him the maximum sentence allowed under that section, which is two years in jail.

This decision by the trial court triggered Section 8(3) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, which 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.”

In consequence, on March 24, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification saying that Rahul stood disqualified from the House with effect from March 23, the date of his conviction.

What did Rahul Gandhi do after that?

On April 3 this year, Rahul moved the next higher court, the Surat Sessions Court, in appeal. He filed two applications, one for the suspension of the two-year sentence, and the other for the suspension of conviction.

On April 20, Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera rejected both applications.

Rahul then moved the Gujarat High Court in appeal. On July 7, Justice Hemant Prachchhak dismissed the appeal and said that the sessions court order refusing to grant a stay on his conviction earlier was “just and legal”.

Rahul then moved the Supreme Court.