Centre given 4 weeks for status report on plea over Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship

The Lucknow bench of the High Court, comprising Justices AR Masoodi and Ajay Kumar Srivastava, heard the petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and set April 21 as the next date of hearing, when the Centre needs to file a status report on the citizenship of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The Centre had sought eight weeks to file the status report.

In his complaint to the Union Home Ministry in 2019, Swamy alleged that Rahul Gandhi had declared himself a British citizen in documents submitted to British authorities. Swamy argued that this violated the Indian Constitution and the Citizenship Act and amounted to holding a British passport.

The BJP leader informed the court that the government had issued a show-cause notice to Rahul Gandhi, asking him to clarify his British citizenship. However, he did not respond, and the government took no further action.