Union government yet to respond, HC dismisses Rahul Gandhi's citizenship PIL

LUCKNOW: Allahabad HC's Lucknow bench declined Monday to spend any more court minutes hearing a PIL challenging Lok Sabha leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi's citizenship, saying the petitioner was at liberty to seek alternative legal remedies.

Justices AR Masoodi and Rajiv Singh reasoned that since the Union govt was unable to set a timeframe to resolve the petitioner's complaint, there was no justification in keeping the PIL pending.

Petitioner S Vignesh Shishir, a BJP worker from Karnataka, claimed to have acquired documents and emails from the UK govt proving that Rahul was a British citizen and, therefore, ineligible to contest elections and become an MP. India doesn't allow dual citizenship.

In the previous hearing on April 21, the court was told that the Centre had written to the UK govt seeking details about claims that Rahul held British citizenship.

The bench gave the Union govt until May 5 to state its response to Shishir's representation seeking cancellation of Rahul's election to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli last year.

The Centre's counsel told the court that no time limit could be set for this since information from the UK govt was still awaited.