Prayagraj: In a politically sensitive case involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship status, the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) on Monday chose judicial restraint over intervention, declining to rule on the matter and directing the Union government to take a final decision instead.
A division bench of Justice A.R. Masoodi and Justice Rajeev Singh disposed of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader and advocate S. Vignesh Shishir, who alleged that Gandhi holds dual citizenship—Indian and British—and is therefore ineligible to contest elections under Article 84(a) of the Constitution.
Acknowledging that the case involves sensitive communication between two sovereign nations, India and the United Kingdom, the court noted the Centre’s inability to commit to a timeline for a decision.
“There is no justification to keep the matter pending before the court in the absence of a conclusive response from the central government,” the bench observed.
However, the court left the door open for future legal action, granting the petitioner the liberty to return once the government issues its final determination.
The decision reflects the judiciary’s caution in navigating a matter deeply entangled with political implications.
By directing the executive to take a stand, the court effectively sidestepped becoming embroiled in what many see as a politically motivated controversy.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, during an earlier hearing, had submitted a status report that failed to clarify Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship, prompting the court to express dissatisfaction and grant additional time to submit a revised report. However, with the government still non-committal, the court opted to close the petition.
The petitioner, Vignesh Shishir, is not just a lawyer but also a BJP office-bearer. His allegations stem from documents related to a now-defunct UK-based company—BackOps Limited—where Gandhi was listed as a British national in past filings.
Reacting to the court’s decision, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called the entire case a “political hit job.”
She said, “These repeated attempts to question Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship are a part of a larger campaign to silence him. The courts have rightly chosen not to indulge political vendetta.”