Tag: disqualification

Rahul tore ordinance that shielded MLAs, MPs from instant disqualification: Annamalai

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Chennai: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on September 28, 2013 torn an ordinance that shielded the MLAs and MPs from instant disqualification, Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai said on Saturday.
Taking to Twitter, he said that Rahul Gandhi had on September 28, 2013 torn an ordinance that gave three months time for MLAs and MPs from disqualification.
He was responding to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s statement on Friday that disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as an MP before he could go for an appeal was the death knell of democracy in India.
Stalin also said that the metamorphosis of BJP’s vindictive politics into autocracy was taking place at an alarming pace. He also said, “If one goes by history, it is obvious what is in store for such autocrats.”
Annamala stepped up the attack on Stalin and Rahul said, “Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified after a court verdict for his insult to the country’s OBC and Teli society and for not apologising.”
He said that Rahul Gandhi was a habitual and had in the past apologised for peddling lies in public and added that the verdict had rattled habitual liars, the DMK.
It may be noted that according to the Representation of People Act, 1951, sitting MPs and MLAs have a protection from disqualification if they are convicted of certain offences and they are given a period of three months for a sitting MLA or MP from being disqualified.
The Act also states that if the sitting MLA or MP files an appeal for revision within three months of the date of conviction, the public servant cannot be disqualified until the appeal or revision was not disposed of.

The Supreme Court had struck down this in 2013 in the judgment of Lily Thomas vs Union of India and struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of People Act.
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had tried to nullify the judgment through the Representation of the People (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013. Rahul Gandhi had on September 28, 2003 in a press conference torn the copy of the ordinance calling it utter “nonsense”.
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#Rahul #tore #ordinance #shielded #MLAs #MPs #instant #disqualification #Annamalai
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Plea in SC challenges automatic disqualification of lawmakers upon conviction

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Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the “automatic disqualification” of lawmakers upon their conviction and being sentenced to a jail term for two years or more according to section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act.
The plea, filed by a Kerala-based social activist, said the immediate reason for approaching the apex court was a recent development related to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a member of Parliament from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, after he was convicted by a court in Gujarat’s Surat in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
The petitioner, Aabha Muralidharan, has sought a declaration that the automatic disqualification under section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 is ultra vires the Constitution for being “arbitrary” and “illegal”.
The petition has claimed that an automatic disqualification of people’s representatives of elected legislative bodies restrains them from “freely discharging their duties cast upon them by the voters of their respective constituencies, which is against the principles of democracy”.
“The present scenario provides a blanket disqualification, irrespective of the nature, gravity and seriousness of the offences, allegedly against the concerned member, and provides for an ‘automatic’ disqualification, which is against the principles of natural justice since various convictions are reversed at the appellate stage and under such circumstances, the valuable time of a member, who is discharging his duties towards the public at large, shall be rendered futile,” the plea, filed through advocate Deepak Prakash, said.
Regarding Gandhi’s disqualification, the plea said the conviction has been challenged, but in light of the operations of the present disqualification rules under the 1951 Act, the stage of appeal, the nature of the offences, the gravity of the offences and the impact of the same over the society and the country are not being considered, and in a blanket manner, an automatic disqualification has been ordered.
It said members of Parliament are the voice of people and they uphold the right to freedom of speech and expression of millions of their supporters who have elected them.
“All that the petitioner and the petition wish to establish is that the right under Article 19(1)(a) enjoyed by a member of Parliament is an extension of the voice of millions of his supporters,” it said.

The plea said the provision ignores the first schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on “classification of offences”, which can be categorised under two headings — cognisable and non-cognisable and bailable and non-bailable.
The plea said the grounds for disqualification ought to be specific with the nature of offences as specified under the CrPC and not in a “blanket form”, as is currently in force according to section 8(3) of the 1951 Act.
It said the apex court had, in the case of Lily Thomas versus Union of India, declared as ultra vires the Constitution section 8(4) of the 1951 Act, which said the disqualification of a lawmaker on conviction shall not take effect until three months have elapsed from the date or, if within that period an appeal or application for revision is brought in respect of the conviction or sentence, until that appeal or application is disposed of by a court.
The plea alleged that the Lily Thomas verdict is being “blatantly misused for wreaking personal vengeance by political parties”.
The petition said if the offence of defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which attracts a maximum punishment of two years in jail, is not removed singularly from the sweeping effect of the Lily Thomas judgment, it will have a “chilling effect on the right of representation of the citizens”.
The plea has arrayed the Centre, the Election Commission, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and the Lok Sabha Secretariat as party respondents.
It has sought a declaration that there is no automatic disqualification under section 8(3) of the 1951 Act and in cases of automatic disqualification under the provision, the same be declared ultra vires the Constitution.
It has also sought a declaration that the mandate under section 499 (defamation) of the IPC or any other offence prescribing a maximum punishment of two years in jail will not automatically disqualify any incumbent member of a legislative body since it “violates the freedom of speech and expression of an elected common man’s representative”.
Former Congress chief Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after he was convicted by the Surat court.
Announcing his disqualification, the Lok Sabha Secretariat in a notification said it would be effective from March 23, the day of Gandhi’s conviction.
“Consequent upon his conviction by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat … Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala, stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023,” the notification read.
The Surat court sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail on Thursday in a defamation case filed on a complaint from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi.
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#Plea #challenges #automatic #disqualification #lawmakers #conviction
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Asked only one question on Adani..: Rahul Gandhi on disqualification

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held his first news conference since his disqualification from the Lok Sabha on Saturday, saying he only raised one question about Adani in Parliament.
“My speech made in Parliament was expunged, and later I wrote a detailed reply to the Lok Sabha Speaker. Some ministers lied about me, that I sought help from foreign powers. But there is no such thing I have done. I will not stop asking questions, I will keep questioning the relationship between PM Modi and Adani,” he said.
I had asked only one question on Adani… I will continue to ask questions and fight for democracy in India: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi day after his disqualification as MP pic.twitter.com/fcgo77sM63
— ANI (@ANI) March 25, 2023
Rahul said that this ‘whole drama’ was orchestrated to defend the Prime Minsiter from one simple question. “Who’s Rs 20,000 crore went to Adani’s shell companies? I am not scared of these threats, disqualifications or prison sentences,” he said.
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#Asked #question #Adani. #Rahul #Gandhi #disqualification
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
US Congressman asks PM Modi to reverse Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

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Washington: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha is a “deep betrayal” of Gandhian philosophy, an influential Indian-origin Congressman said on Friday.
Gandhi, the former Congress president, was on Friday disqualified from the Lok Sabha, nearly 24 hours after a court in Surat in the state of Gujarat convicted him in a defamation case.
“The expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from parliament is a deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy and India’s deepest values,” Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said in a tweet.
“This is not what my grandfather sacrificed years in jail for,” Khanna said. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in the US House of Representatives.
The expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from parliament is a deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy and India’s deepest values. This is not what my grandfather sacrificed years in jail for. @narendramodi you have the power to reverse this decision for the the sake of Indian democracy. https://t.co/h85qlYMn1J
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) March 24, 2023
Khanna, who is the Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian- Americans, has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention on this issue.
“You have the power to reverse this decision for the sake of Indian democracy,” Khanna said in another tweet.
The disqualification will bar 52-year-old Gandhi, a four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.
Meanwhile, George Abraham, vice-chair of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA, termed Gandhi’s disqualification as a sad day for democracy in India.

“It is a sad day for democracy in India. By disqualifying Rahul Gandhi, Modi sarkar is ringing the death knell for the right to free speech and freedom of Indians everywhere,” Abraham said.
“Bringing a frivolous court case against a remark in the heat of a political campaign is shameful and not on par with the spirit of the Constitution regarding freedom of expression,” he added.

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#Congressman #asks #Modi #reverse #Rahul #Gandhis #disqualification
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification goes against basic tenets of Constitution, says Sharad Pawar

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Mumbai: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a Lok Sabha member was against the basic tenets of the Constitution and was a “condemnable” move that highlighted the curtailment of democratic values, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has said.
Gandhi, representing Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala, was on Friday disqualified from the Lok Sabha, a day after his conviction in a defamation case by a court in Surat in Gujarat.
The court sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remarks at a 2019 poll rally in Karnataka. However, the court also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.
Commenting on the development on Friday, the NCP supremo also referred to the disqualification of his party MP from Lakshadweep Mohammed Faizal P P following the latter’s conviction in an attempt to murder case. Faizal’s conviction was later suspended by the Kerala High Court.
“The disqualification of Mr Rahul Gandhi and Mr Faizal a few months ago as MPs of the Lok Sabha are against the basic tenets of the constitution, where democratic values are being curtailed. This is condemnable and against the very principles on which the constitution is based,” Pawar tweeted.
“Our constitution guarantees the right of each Individual to fair justice; liberty of thought; equality of status and opportunity and fraternity assuring the dignity of each Indian. #RahulGandhi,” the former Union minister said in a series of tweets.
We all need to stand together to defend our democratic institutions, he added.

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#Rahul #Gandhis #disqualification #basic #tenets #Constitution #Sharad #Pawar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Cong in MP stages protest over Rahul’s disqualification from LS

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Bhopal: Enraged over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a defamation case, party members in Madhya Pradesh staged a massive protest on Friday.
The Congress workers across Madhya Pradesh, holding party’s flags, took out rallies on roads, blocked traffic and raised slogans against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Hundreds of NSUI workers reached Rani Kamalapati Railway Station in Bhopal and blocked a couple of trains. However, railway officials later jumped into action and train services were started after disruption of around an hour.
The protest was not limited to the state capital Bhopal only. As per reports, Congress workers across Madhya Pradesh marched on roads holding ‘mashals’ (torches) in their hands and shouting slogans against Prime Minister Modi.
In Gwalior, youth Congress workers burnt the effigy of the BJP and blocked vehicular movements at several junctions in the city.
Similarly, in Rewa, hundreds of party workers holding ‘mashals’ marched on the road in support of their leader, Rahul Gandhi.
Reacting to the matter, former chief minister and Madhya Pradesh unit Congress chief Kamal Nath criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating “the BJP government has crossed all limits in hatching a conspiracy”.
“The way his (Rahul Gandhi) Lok Sabha membership has been cancelled, it is clear that the Modi government is scared of Rahul Gandhi. Instead of answering the questions raised by him, the government was looking for a way to remove him from the Lok Sabha. Today is a day of great sadness and pain for Indian democracy,” Kamal Nath said.

“Today, the people of India stand with Rahul Gandhi stronger than ever before. Justice will be done,” he added.
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#Cong #stages #protest #Rahuls #disqualification
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification: Cong says it will launch ‘Jan-Andolan’ across country

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New Delhi: The Congress on Friday announced a nationwide agitation against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha, alleging that the government acted with lightning speed to “gag” him, and called for taking forward the opposition unity in a systematic manner.
Soon after Gandhi’s disqualification by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Congress leadership got into a huddle at the party headquarters and deliberated on the way forward.
Top Congress leaders, including former AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Rajiv Shukla and Tariq Anwar, and senior leaders P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal among others attended the meeting where the party decided to take this forward into a “Jan Andolan”.
Congress general secretary Ramesh said, “We will go all over the country as Rahul Gandhi was deliberately disqualified for raising his voice against the Modi government on the Adani issue, on the government’s foreign policy and the clean chit given to China for incursions at the border.”
Ramesh said the BJP was rattled with the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which, he said, became a movement.
The Congress leadership has welcomed the statements of support of all opposition leaders, he said, and asserted that “we should now take the issue of opposition unity forward in a systematic way”.
“It was noted today that many opposition parties have condemned the action taken unilaterally with such lightning speed to disqualify Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
“Yes, there was a consensus that we should now take the job of building opposition unity in a systematic way. Every day Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been meeting floor leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. So we are coordinating in Parliament and now coordination has to be outside Parliament,” he said.

“It is also heartening to note that parties which were not part of this floor coordination have now issued public statements condemning this action of disqualification of Rahul Gandhi,” Ramesh said.
The Congress’ state units and frontal organisations will launch programmes across the country and they will begin from Monday with a countrywide agitation, he said.
“We will go all over the country saying that Rahul Gandhi has been deliberately disqualified as he has been raising his voice against the Modi government on various issues, including demonetisation, GST, foreign policy, and the government’s intentions and policies,” Ramesh said.
Urging people to “understand the chronology”, the Congress leader said nine days after Gandhi’s Adani speech in Lok Sabha on February 7, the defamation case against him was fast-tracked by the complainant, who withdrew his own stay in the high court on February 16.
On February 27, the arguments resumed after a year and on March 17, the judgment was reserved, he said, adding that the verdict was pronounced on March 23. “This is no coincidence,” Ramesh added.
In a tweet later, he said the prime minister was using the G20 to proclaim to the world that India is the ‘Mother of Democracy’.
“That Mother is weeping today at the Murder of Democracy in India,” Ramesh alleged.
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#Rahul #Gandhis #disqualification #Cong #launch #JanAndolan #country
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Kashmiri politicians attack Centre over Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

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Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha has proved right apprehensions he had expressed in London recently.
“GOI is clearly rattled by RG for emerging as a powerful challenger pre 2024 elections. Since BJP can’t fight him politically, they are now subverting institutions because he refuses to do a Savarkar. The apprehensions he voiced in London are tragically being proven right,” Mehbooba tweeted.
Commenting on Gandhi’s disqualification, CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said the central government was trying to control all institutions in the country for its advantage.
“I had never thought that the democracy of our country would be brought to such lows. For a long time, the government has been trying to take control of the Parliament and other institutions,” Tarigami told PTI.
He said the government was not in the mood of tolerating dissent in any form.
“Today the highest body of the country has been affected. Such a haste is astonishing! The court has barely announced the verdict, suspended the sentence and given time to him to appeal. The parliament has no time to discuss the daily issues of the common man. It has no patience to listen to the opposition voices and criticism,” he said.
“This is a warning not just to the opposition but people of the entire country that we are facing the same situation which we did not expect even during the emergency. This is not about Rahul Gandhi alone, this is a punishment for speaking the truth,” he added.
National Conference spokesman Imran Nabi Dar said today was not a good day for democracy.

“The speed with which the Lok Sabha secretariat has disqualified Rahul Gandhi raises a lot of questions. The other issue is that the defamation law under which this was done needs to be reviewed,” he said.
Dar said the move to disqualify Gandhi seems to be a fall out of the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. “Otherwise, the ministers in the same government have named Rahul Gandhi so many times.”
“We will support all such efforts which will strengthen the democracy in the country and will oppose all those forces which try to harm the democracy,” Dar said.
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#Kashmiri #politicians #attack #Centre #Rahul #Gandhis #disqualification
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 24, 2023
‘Only SC should pronounce final verdict’: Stalin flays BJP on Rahul’s disqualification

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M.K. Stalin came out in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi following the latter’s disqualification as a member of the Lok Sabha on Friday in wake of his conviction by a Gujarat court, terming the decision an attack on progressive democratic forces and demanding that it be revoked.
Noting that the verdict in the criminal defamation case has been given by a trial court, he said that an appeal to the higher courts is still on the cards and questioned the haste with which the disqualification was executed.
“It is only the Supreme Court that should pronounce the final verdict. It seems like the BJP was just waiting for this opportunity going by their act of disqualifying Rahul Gandhi within a day of the district court’s verdict,” Stalin said.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister attacked the BJP government at the Centre for the developments unfolding since Thursday.
“It is now clear how much the BJP is scared of Rahul Gandhi. The impact created by brother Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo yatra is also a reason for BJP’s fear,” he said.
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#pronounce #final #verdict #Stalin #flays #BJP #Rahuls #disqualification

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 24, 2023
Wayanad LS seat declared vacant after Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

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New Delhi: The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala was declared vacant on Friday after its MP Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Parliament after he was sentenced to a two-year jail term in a criminal defamation case.
The Lok Sabha secretariat issued a notification disqualifying Gandhi as a member of the Lower House of Parliament following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
The Lok Sabha website now shows three vacant seats Jalandhar, Lakshadweep and Wayanad.
The Jalandhar seat fell vacant after the demise of Congress member Santokh Singh Chaudhary.
The Lakshadweep seat fell vacant after the disqualification of NCP member Mohammad Faizal P P after his conviction in an attempt to murder case in which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Gandhi represented the Amethi parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2019. BJP leader Smriti Irani defeated Gandhi in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad, the second seat he had contested.

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#Wayanad #seat #declared #vacant #Rahul #Gandhis #disqualification
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 24, 2023