Rahul Gandhi citizenship row: Allahabad court asks Home Ministry to decide by December 19

The Home Ministry has been asked to decide on the citizenship of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi by November 19. The interim order was passed by the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday as it heard a PIL filed by a Karnataka BJP worker — S Vignesh Shishir. A CBI probe had also been initiated into the matter earlier this year.

The Bench comprising Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi has directed that the government to share the outcome of the representation on December 19. The Centre had acknowledged the representation in late September and it remains under process.

The petitioner had moved the High Court after he failed to get a reply on two representations sent to the Home Ministry seeking the cancellation of his citizenship.

According to Shishir, there is evidence to suggest that the Leader of Opposition actually holds British citizenship. He had also sought a CBI investigation into the matter. A similar plea also came before the Delhi High Court earlier this month as former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy sought the cancellation of Gandhi's Indian citizenship.

“I also appeared before the CBI in this case and tendered my very confidential evidence with regard to this matter. The matter is currently under investigation by the CBI. Various investigating agencies of the country are conducting the investigation,” Shishir had told the Delhi HC.

He claims to have conducted “detailed enquiries” into the citizenship held by Gandhi and accessed confidential emails from the UK Government. The PIL said that the British government had indicated it had records of Gandhi's ‘British nationality’ but refused to disclose ‘personal data’. Under the General Data Protection Regulations framed under the UK Data Protection Act, British Government cannot provide this information unless it gets a signed letter of authority from Rahul Gandhi.