Congress’s show of strength in Surat as Rahul Gandhi to challenge conviction in defamation case
NEW DELHI,APR 3: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will appear in a Gujarat court today to appeal against his conviction and two-year sentencing in a 2019 defamation case. He will appeal against the Magistrate court’s order convicting him in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remarks. Gandhi will land in Surat at around 2 pm, as per the Congress sources.
Rahul Gandhi will seek suspension of his sentence by the sessions court, his lawyers told PTI. The matter is likely to be taken up for hearing by the session courts today. Congress MPs are set to meet and chalk out their strategy on Monday ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against his conviction, reported ANI.
Many senior Congress leaders, including the party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states, and other national and state party leaders are likely to accompany him to the court, PTI reported quoting sources.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh and Congress Rajya Sabha member K C Venugopal are also likely to join Rahul Gandhi in Surat.
Ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the city, posters and hoardings of RaGa, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were seen on the streets with party flags.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed the Congress for its show of strength, accusing it of putting pressure on the judiciary.
Rahul Gandhi disqualified as Lok Sabha MP after conviction, sentencing in defamation case
On March 23, Rahul Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to a two-year jail term for his “Modi surname” remarks which he made while addressing an election rally in Karnataka in 2019.
The case was filed against Gandhi on a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for the Congress leader’s alleged remarks “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
The court had held the Congress leader guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500.
A day later, he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction by the Surat court in the case. Gandhi would not be able to contest elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.
The sentence of two years invited his disqualification from the membership of Parliament under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The RP Act holds that an MP or a member of legislative Assembly (MLA) convicted for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.
-PTI
