Disqualification of Rahul Gandhi

During a political rally in Kolar, Karnataka, India in 2019 before the Indian general election, Rahul Gandhi remarked "Why do all thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names.”[8][9] A criminal defamation case was filed by Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Surat West, who claimed that Gandhi had defamed all people with the surname Modi.[10] On 23 March, the Surat court convicted Rahul Gandhi and sentenced him to two years in prison stating that Gandhi "has accepted the controversial facts". He was given 30 days to appeal his sentence.[11]

On 24 March, one day after the conviction, Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh notified that Rahul Gandhi would stand disqualified as the Member of Parliament from Wayanad constituency from 23 March, the date of his conviction, under the Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA).[12]

On 3 April, Gandhi was able to appeal and obtain bail from the Surat Court with the hearing for stay posted to 13 April.[13][14][15][16]

The disqualification prompted opposition leaders to unite and seek judicial intervention.[17] Fourteen major opposition parties jointly moved to the Supreme Court of India, alleging misuse of investigative agencies by the Modi government.[18] These allegations were dismissed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud who stated that "politicians cannot be placed on a pedestal higher than citizen" calling the demands of the appeal a "dangerous proposition".[5][6][7]

Section 8 of the RPA deals with disqualification of public representatives for conviction of crimes to prevent criminalization of politics. Clause 3 of Section 8 states that a representative convicted for a crime and sentenced for two years or more would stand disqualified from his membership from the date of the conviction and remain disqualified for the six years following his release. This disqualification would only hold in place if the conviction is not stayed by an appellate court.[12][19]

In 2013, the Supreme Court of India struck down the Section 8(4) of the RPA which allowed the convicted representatives to have a three month window to appeal the conviction and exhaust all judicial remedy before facing disqualification. The UPA Government at the center attempted to nullify this verdict by passing an ordinance which was withdrawn after Rahul Gandhi publicly expressed that this ordinance should be "torn apart" during a press conference.[20][21]