Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from his membership in the lower house, a day after he was convicted in a criminal defamation case. The Lok Sabha Secretariat announced the decision in a notification on Friday.
The notification said, “Consequent to the conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat, Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha MP representing Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala, is disqualified from membership of the Lower House from the date of his conviction… ” The order was signed by the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.
On Thursday, Gujarat’s Surat district court convicted Gandhi in a criminal defamation case arising out of his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark in 2019.
BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed a case against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remark, “How can all thieves be surnamed Modi?”
