On Friday (August 4), the Supreme Court stayed the sentence of Rahul Gandhi in a contempt case filed against him by a Gujarat court, where he was sentenced to two years in prison.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai said that the trial court judge did not justify why Rahul should be sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly tarnishing his incompetence as a member of Parliament.
The grant of bail by the SC essentially means that Rahul's sentence will be put on hold - as if it didn't exist. His disqualification from Parliament due to the sentence - and with it, the basis for disqualification - no longer holds.
Currently, disqualification is effectively null and void. An appeal against the trial court's judgment is currently being heard by the Surat Sessions Court.
Rahul's disqualification will remain in abeyance until the appeal process is complete.
In "Lok Parhari vs Union of India" in 2018, the Supreme Court had made it clear that disqualification "shall not operate from the date of the sentence imposed by the appellate court."
It's not possible. Although the Lok Sabha speaker has yet to officially revoke disqualification, the approval of the President has rendered the basis for disqualification invalid.
The ousted nuclear forces Modi and former cricket administrator Lalit Modi, who are both accused of financial fraud, were talking about.
The next day of Rahul's speech, BJP leader and former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel lodged a private complaint in front of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat, accusing the Congress leader of defaming everyone in Modi's name.
On March 23, 2023, Magistrate H.H. Verma found Rahul guilty of criminal contempt of court under Section 500 IPC and sentenced him to two years in prison.
This decision by the trial court led to the amendment of the Representation of the People Act 1951, which states, "a person who has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for any offense for at least two years, shall be disqualified beginning on the date of their conviction and remaining ineligible for an additional six years. after his release."
As a result, on March 24, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification stating that Rahul stands disqualified from the date of his sentence on March 23.
On April 3 of the same year, Rahul appealed to the High Court of Surat Section Court. He filed two applications, one for the suspension of the two-year sentence and the other for the suspension of the sentence.
Afterward, Rahul moved the Supreme Court.
Following his disqualification, Rahul threatened to implicate one of the few opposition figures with the power and identity to challenge Modi.
Gandhi walked 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) across the whole of India last year to meet with voters and revitalize Congress - a formidable organization that has struggled to secure votes in recent years.
In the first significant measure of voter sentiment following this experiment, Congress dealt a significant blow to the BJP in the southwest Karnataka state elections.
Last month, Congress and several other opposition parties joined hands to form the "India Against Modi" alliance, aiming to unseat Modi in next year's elections.
However, while the BJP's popularity can be estimated, the Indian opposition has yet to present any leader to challenge Modi in the next year's elections. Gandhi is one of the few opposition figures who have the star power and identity to stand against Modi in general elections.
Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's son, they are. Their grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was India's first female leader, and their great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the country's founding Prime Minister.
Their grandmother was assassinated in office, and their father died in a bomb explosion during an electoral campaign in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
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