New Delhi, 19 February (HS): During the hearing of the petitioner and BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy in the Delhi High Court on the demand for cancellation of the Indian citizenship of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said that the central government had issued a show-cause notice to Rahul Gandhi and sought an explanation about his British citizenship, but Rahul Gandhi has not yet given any response. The next hearing of the case will be on March 26.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing on behalf of the central government said that there is no restriction on the jurisdiction of this court because the case is pending in the Allahabad High Court. In this case parallel proceedings can be taken in both High Courts.

It is stated that during the hearing on 06 December 2024, the petitioner Vignesh Shishir, who filed the petition in the Allahabad High Court, appeared and informed about the progress report of the ongoing proceedings in the Allahabad High Court. During the hearing on 06 November 2024, Subramaniam Swamy presented the record of the petition filed in the Allahabad High Court. Earlier on August 20, a single bench of the High Court had ordered the transfer of the petition to the second bench. A bench headed by Justice Sanjeev Narula said the petitioner had failed to show that it had any constitutional right. But the petitioner has to say that there is public interest involved in it. Therefore, this petition will be heard by the bench which hears the Public Interest Litigation.

Subrahmanyam Swamy himself said that he had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2019 that Backops Limited was registered in UK in 2003 and Rahul Gandhi was one of the directors of that company. It has been stated in the petition that in the annual income tax return filed by the company on 10th October 2005 and 31st October 2006, it has been stated that Rahul Gandhi's citizenship is British.

It has been stated in the petition that in the application filed by the company on February 17, 2009 to dissolve itself, Rahul Gandhi's citizenship has also been mentioned as UK. It is said in the petition that doing so is a violation of Article 9 of the Constitution and the Indian Citizenship Act.

Article 9 states that a person who voluntarily takes the citizenship of another country cannot remain a citizen of India. The Union Home Ministry had written a letter to Rahul Gandhi on April 29, 2019 asking him to give an explanation in this regard within two weeks. But despite the passage of more than five years, there is no clarity. In such a case, the court should issue directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to take a decision in this regard.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar