New Delhi, September 5 (HS): A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the order to reinstate Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s membership in Parliament. The petition has been filed by Lucknow-based lawyer Ashok Pandey.
The petition states that under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act and Articles 102 and 191 of the Constitution, once a Member of Parliament has lost membership, his membership cannot be reinstated without being acquitted of the charges.
Significantly, on August 4, the Supreme Court had stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the Modi surname case. After this decision of the Supreme Court, the Lok Sabha Secretariat restored Rahul Gandhi’s membership on August 7.
The petition has demanded that the Supreme Court issue a direction to the Election Commission to declare Rahul Gandhi’s seat vacant and conduct elections to the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. The petition states that, as per Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Appellate Court has the power to stay only the sentence and not the right to stay the conviction.
On August 4, a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai said that the trial court had erred in awarding the maximum sentence. The Supreme had said that due to the maximum punishment (2 years) in this case, Rahul’s membership was lost, but the judge of the lower court did not clarify in the decision what the reason was for fixing the maximum punishment. The Supreme Court had said whether it is not worth considering that because of this decision (being the maximum punishment), one seat will be left without representation. This is not a matter limited to the rights of only one person; it is also an issue related to the rights of the voters in that seat.
Hindusthan Samachar/ Indrani
