Rahul Gandhi News / Why Rahul Gandhi was punished, will he not be able to contest elections now? Know full news

Rahul Gandhi News: A court in Surat has sentenced former Congress President Rahul Gandhi to two years imprisonment, after which the Lok Sabha Secretariat has canceled Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership. BJP MLA Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint in the court on Rahul Gandhi's alleged remarks regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname. Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment on Thursday in this defamation case. However, the court also granted bail to Gandhi and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal to the higher court. The matter has now caught fire and opposition leaders have accused the Modi government of destroying democracy. Congress has strongly condemned this decision of the court.

Know the complete timeline of the defamation case

April 13, 2019

At a rally in Kolar, Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had said: “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi… how come they all have the surname Modi? How come the surname of all these thieves is Modi?

Following this statement, on April 16, 2019, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi filed a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Surat court for his surname remark. Cases were registered in this matter under sections 499, 500 and 504 of IPC.

On May 2, 2019, the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court ordered registration of a case against Rahul and issued summons.

On July 16, 2019, the court exempted Rahul Gandhi from personal appearance; The next hearing has been fixed for October 10.

On October 10, 2019, Rahul Gandhi appeared in the court. Rahul Gandhi had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On June 2020, Rahul Gandhi told the court that he had not made any such comment.

On October 29, 2021, Rahul Gandhi was ordered to appear for recording his statement. After the order of the court, Rahul Gandhi appeared in the court.

On March 7, 2022, complainant Purnesh Modi presented electronic evidence against Rahul Gandhi. After which the Gujarat High Court stayed the hearing after challenging the Surat court's order dismissing the petition.

On March 20, 2023, the Surat court completed the hearing of this defamation case.

On March 17, the case was concluded in the court and till March 23, the court reserved the decision.

On March 23, the court convicted Rahul Gandhi and also granted him bail, so that he could take him to the High Court.

So will Rahul Gandhi be able to contest the 2024 elections now?

Rahul Gandhi's parliament membership has ended after he was convicted by the Surat court in a defamation case following remarks made on PM Modi's surname. Please tell that Rahul Gandhi was an MP from Wayanad in Kerala and now after the membership is over, he will no longer be that MP. This is considered to be the biggest political setback for Rahul Gandhi so far. So will Rahul Gandhi not be able to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections?

According to the law, there is a provision in the Representation of the People Act regarding disqualification of an MP that a person convicted of any offense as per section 8(3) of the RP Act, has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years from the date of conviction. will be disqualified from

- The convicted person will not be able to contest elections for 6 years after serving his sentence.

The Wayanad seat has also fallen vacant following the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi by the Lok Sabha Secretariat under the Act.

After conviction, his disqualification as an MP will continue for 6 years even after his release, which means he can be disqualified for a total of 8 years.