Plea challenging Rahul Gandhi’s conviction ready, to be moved soon: Sources

New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) A plea against Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the defamation case and the trial court’s conviction in Surat is ready and will be filed soon, sources said on Wednesday.

The party’s top legal advisers are working on the review petition to be filed in the Surat Sessions Court in a couple of days.

In 2019, Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in a defamation case involving Modi’s surname, following which he was disqualified as an MP of the Lok Sabha.
Congress has said that they will fight this issue politically and legally and will take this issue to the people.

Congress leader Manickam  Tagore said that the government has deliberately disqualified Rahul Gandhi as part of a conspiracy to prevent him from participating in the budget session.

“This is a completely false case and he has been disqualified to keep him out of Parliament. But we will fight legally and politically,” he told reporters outside Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has said that there is no rush to announce a by-election for the Wayanad constituency as it has given one month’s time to appeal against the court order.

“No rush, let’s wait. There is no rush to do so before exhausting the specific remedy granted by the trial court. After that we will call,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar told a press conference.

He said that the vacancy in the Wayanad Parliamentary Party was announced on March 23 this year and by-elections should be held within 6 months as per law.

Kumar said the law also says that if the remaining term is less than one year, no election will be held.

For Wayanad, the CEC said the remaining period would be more than a year.