Rahul Gandhi disqualification: Congress MP Adhir Ranjan writes to LS Speaker seeking debate in Parliament

New Delhi [India], April 4 : A day after the Surat court granted bail to Rahul Gandhi in the "Modi surname" case, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding a debate in Parliament on the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as MP.

"There should be a debate in the Parliament as to ascertain the fact that whether our leader Rahul Gandhi has been awarded disproportionate punishment which smacks of cognitive dissonance or equality of law is meted out to all the elected members whosoever," Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in a letter.

Chowdhury in his letter also cited the disqualification case of the incumbent Member of Parliament from 14, Amreli Lok Sabha Constituency of Gujarat Naranbhai Kachhadiya.

"May I like to remind you that during the last Lok Sabha the incumbent Member of Parliament from 14, Amreli Lok Sabha Constituency of Gujarat Naranbhai Kachhadiya was convicted of an offence under sections 332, 186 and 143 IPC and awarded a punishment of three years imprisonment under section 332 IPC and six months imprisonment under section 143 IPC," the letter read.

"Kachhadiya preferred an appeal to the High Court and the Hon'ble High Court on 18th April, 2016 declined to stay the conviction. However, the Hon'ble High Court allowed suspension of the sentence," it added.

"As per the provisions of section 8 of the Representation of the people Act 1951, Kachhadiya should have been disqualified from the membership of the House, however the then Hon'ble Speaker did not resort to any action (including disqualification) against the Hon'ble Member Naranbhai Kachhadiya," Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in his letter.

"But it is intriguing to note that our leader Rahul Gandhi, who was summarily disqualified from Lok Sabha in the wake of Surat district court verdict of two years sentence to jail even though his sentence was suspended by the same court for a period of one month, which facilitated his next attempt for an appeal in higher courts," he said further.

"According to my knowledge before disqualifying the elected member this two conditions are considered prerequisite to be complied with. In my view the second condition cannot stand the test of the prescribed provision of Representation of People Act as the sentence of Rahul Gandhi was suspended by the Trail Court itself. Sir, there is an adage what is sauce for the goose must be the sauce for the gander," the letter read further.

Earlier on Monday, the court in Gujarat's Surat granted bail to Rahul Gandhi till the disposal of the appeal to Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case.

The former MP from Wayanad was convicted and sentenced to two years in hail by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma on March 23 in a defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark in 2019 in Karnataka.

The matter pertains to Rahul's remarks at a rally in Karnataka's Kolar in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?".

Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA stands to be disqualified automatically if convicted and sentenced to 2 years or more.