The Delhi High Court today granted BJP leader Subramanian Swamy time to file a copy of petition pending before the Allahabad High Court on the issue of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship. The BJP leader informed the court that he had obtained the copy of the petition and the prayers in that matter are different from that of his pleadings.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the petitioner to file the documents in electronic form in compliance with its last order. The court scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 6.
The Delhi High Court was hearing a plea by Swamy seeking directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide his representation seeking cancellation of Rahul Gandhi’s Indian citizenship.
The BJP leader in his plea also sought a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide a status report on the representation filed by him against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
At the outset of the hearing, Subramanian Swamy contended that the matter pending before the Allahabad High Court has got nothing to do with his case and that the prayers are completely different. Responding, the bench asserted that they will look into the matter. The court had earlier granted time to the petitioner to obtain a copy of the petition that has been filed before the Allahabad High Court.
The Delhi High Court had said a petition on a similar issue was also being heard by its Allahabad counterpart and two courts can’t deal with the same issue simultaneously. It had stated that before proceeding further in the matter, it will be in the interest of justice to know about the pending petition in the Allahabad High Court.
Subramanian Swamy’s plea, lodged by advocate Satya Sabharwal, said that on August 6, 2019, the petitioner had written a letter to the ministry alleging that Rahul Gandhi had voluntarily disclosed to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, amounting to holding a British passport.
In his plea in the Delhi High Court, Subramanian Swamy has said that the Congress leader, being an Indian citizen, has violated Article 9 of the Constitution, read with the Indian Citizenship Act, and would cease to be an Indian citizen. He added that he has sent many representations to the ministry inquiring about the status of his complaint but neither any action has been taken nor has he been intimated about it.