Rahul Gandhi Dual Citizenship Row: Allahabad HC Dismisses PIL Alleging Dual Nationality

PIL was filed against Rahul Gandhi Congress leader and LOP alleging that he holds dual citizenship of India and the United Kingdom. Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench  on Monday dismissed the PIL. This PIL was filed by BJP worker S Vignesh Shishir from Karnataka, claiming that Rahul Gandhi was a citizen of Britain as well as India, making him ineligible to contest elections under Article 84 (A) of the Constitution. During the hearing, the Lucknow Bench directed the Central Government to submit details of the action taken so far on the case, after which the case was dismissed.

Earlier, The bench had then granted 10 days for the government to submit a revised report, explicitly answering the question of Gandhi's citizenship status following a petition filed alleging that the Congress MP has dual citizenship. In its last hearing, court expressed dissatisfaction with the status report by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to directly address whether Gandhi is an Indian citizen.

In 2019, the MHA issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi concerning his citizenship after a complaint from then-Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy. Swamy alleged that Gandhi was a director and secretary of UK-registered Backops Limited (established in 2003) and had declared himself British in company filings. The notice cited company annual returns from 2005 and 2006, and a 2009 dissolution application, all purportedly listing Gandhi's nationality as British and date of birth as June 19, 1970.