New Delhi: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has given the Union Home Ministry four weeks’ time to decide on the issue of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s dual citizenship.
The government had asked for eight weeks, till April 21, to file its status report, but the court turned down the request.
The petition, filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, was heard by the bench comprising Justices AR Masoodi and Ajay Kumar Srivastava.
The court set April 21 as the next date of hearing, when the government has to file a status report on the matter.
Questions over the citizenship of Rahul, who has been a Lok Sabha MP since 2004 and is currently the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, have been doing the rounds for several years.
Swamy alleged in his complaint to the Home Ministry in 2019 that Rahul had declared himself a British citizen in documents submitted to British authorities. This, Swamy argued, violated India’s Constitution and Citizenship Act, and amounted to holding a British passport.
The present case is based on a petition filed by a Karnataka individual, who has claimed that the Congress leader holds British citizenship, making him ineligible to stand for public office in India.
