Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s membership in the Lok Sabha – the lower house of India’s bicameral parliament – was restored on Monday, local media reported, after four months away from parliament.
The development came after the Supreme Court of India suspended the opposition leader’s two-year sentence for defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after which the Speaker reinstated his membership.
Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years in prison for comments he made in 2019 that a court ruled insulted Modi and those who share his last name.
Anyone sentenced to a custodial term of two years or more is ineligible to sit in India’s parliament, and an earlier ruling forced Gandhi to oust the body in March.
His conviction stemmed from a comment he made during the 2019 election campaign when he mocked Modi, asking why “Modi is [his] common surname of all thieves”.
In his 731-page submission to the Supreme Court, Gandhi said his speech was made “in the course of democratic political activities”.
His sentence was “severely detrimental to democratic freedom of expression”, added the document, which his party provided to JEE News.
Modi’s government has been widely accused of using defamation laws to silence critics.
Gandhi, scion of a family that gave India three prime ministers, was sentenced to two years in prison, but the prison term was suspended, and he was granted bail.
An official statement on Gandhi’s reinstatement said, “Continuing to Notification No. 21/4(3)/2023/TO(B), dated March 24, 2023, the Supreme Court of India on 04.08. Order issued. In Appeal No. 8644/2023 Special Leave (Crl.) No. 8644/2023, staying the conviction of Rahul Gandhi, Member of the Lok Sabha representing Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency, Kerala, ordered by the Court on 23.03. .2023 was granted vide judgment. C.C./18712/2019 in the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat.”
“In view of the order of the Supreme Court of India dated 04.08.2023, disqualification of Rahul Gandhi, notified vide Gazette Notification No. 21/4(3)/2023/TO(B) dated 24 March 2023. Constitution of India The provisions of Article 102(1)(e) read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, have ceased to operate under further judicial decisions,” it added.
