Rahul Gandhi citizenship row: Subramanian Swamy moves Delhi High Court
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has moved the Delhi High Court over the issue of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's citizenship. The plea seeks a direction from the Union government to file a status report on his complaint against Gandhi. The plea is likely to be heard by the court next week.
Swamy's allegations against Gandhi
Swamy had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2019, alleging that a firm called Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in 2003. Gandhi was listed as one of the directors and secretaries of this company. According to him, Gandhi's nationality was listed as British in the company's annual returns for 2005 and 2006, a detail that was repeated in a company dissolution application dated February 17, 2009.
Swamy's plea seeks Centre's response
Swamy said that this violated Article 9 of the Indian Constitution and the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955. On April 29, 2019, the MHA wrote to Gandhi, requesting him to "intimate the factual position" in this matter within a fortnight. However, Swamy maintained that despite more than five years since his letter, the MHA has yet to clarify what decision was made on it.
Past developments in the case
He is now seeking the Centre's response to his complaint and a final order on the matter. The Supreme Court had dismissed a plea in May 2019 to bar Gandhi from contesting the 2019 General Elections until the 'dual citizenship' issue was resolved. The court had questioned, "Some paper says he has British citizenship so he becomes a British citizen? Merely because a company speaks of him as a British citizenship so it means he has British citizenship?"
