A day after the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 defamation case, Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said the Lower House should now immediately reinstate the former Congress president’s membership.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. (File Photo: IANS)
A day after the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 defamation case, Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said the Lower House should now immediately reinstate the former Congress president’s membership.
In a big relief, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in ‘Modi surname’ remark defamation case, which cost him his membership, saying that no reasons were given by the trial judge for imposing the maximum punishment of two years in the case.
Chowdhury also wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla requesting the restoration of Rahul Gandhi’s membership at the earliest so that he can participate in the House proceedings.
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Addressing a press conference at his residence here, Chowdhury said: “The Supreme Court in its order stayed the conviction of Rahul Gandhi. It means that he should be allowed to participate in the proceedings of the House. And before this is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha secretariat to take note of the same.”
Taking a swipe at the government for disqualifying Rahul Gandhi within a day of the Gujarat court order on April 24, Chowdhury said: “The speed at which they had disqualified him should be seen in reinstating his membership.”
The Congress leader said he called the Speaker on Friday night, saying that he needed to submit the letter of stay on conviction of Rahul Gandhi by the Supreme Court.
“He suggested that I talk tomorrow morning. Today (Saturday( morning I called up the Lok Sabha speaker again over the phone and he asked me to submit the documents in the Lok Sabha Secretariat office. I called the Lok Sabha Secretariat and he said that the office is closed. And thus I asked if I need to submit it today with him, he said submit it with the Lok Sabha Speaker. And today is a holiday,” he said.
“When I asked what is the other way to submit the letter, he said it can be sent through post. I sent it through the post and the letter was received and signed but they did not put the stamp,” he added.
“When he has been granted relief by the court, we are requesting the Speaker to see that he faces no issues in returning,” the Congress leader added.
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