Disqualification Took 24 Hours, Now We'll See How Long Rahul Gandhi's Reinstatement As MP Takes: Congress

Earlier, hailing the top court’s stay on Gandhi’s conviction, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had said the decision exposed BJP's "conspiratorial hounding" of the party scion.

New Delhi: The Congress party said that the Parliament was quick to scrap Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership. However, Congress President Malikarjun Kharge aired his concerns over a possible delay in Rahul Gandhi's reinstatement as an MP. "It remains to be seen how long does the SC order take to reach the Lok Sabha. We have waited so long. We can wait a little more. But we are now closely watching the situation and want to see how long does it take for Lok Sabha to reinstate him," Kharge said.

The Congress president's statement came after the Supreme Court stayed Gandhi’s conviction in a 2019 defamation case over ‘Modi surname’ remark.

Addressing a press conference, Rahul Gandhi said, "My path is clear. I have clarity in my mind on what I have to do and what my work is. I thank the people who helped us. I also thank the people for their love and support."

A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha and Sanjay Kumar said the trial court did not cite any reason while imposing the maximum sentence on the Congress leader and the ramifications were wide since the conviction would also affect the right of the electorates who elected him.

"There is no doubt that utterances are not in good taste, person in public life is expected to exercise caution while making public speeches. No specific reason has been granted by trial judge to impose maximum sentence apart from a comment by this court. Had the sentence been even a day lesser, the provisions (pertaining to disqualification) would not have applied," Justice BR Gavai said.

"Taking into consideration these and that no reason has been given by trial judge for imposing max sentence, order of conviction needs to be stayed pending final adjudication," the court said.

Earlier, hailing the top court’s stay on Gandhi’s conviction, Kharge had said the decision exposed BJP's "conspiratorial hounding" of the party scion.

Taking to Twitter, Kharge wrote, “Justice has been delivered. Democracy has won. The Constitution has been upheld. BJP's conspiratorial hounding of Shri Gandhi has been thoroughly exposed. Time for them to stop their malicious targeting of Opposition leaders.”

"It is high time they respect(sic) the mandate given by the people and start governing the country, on which they have miserably failed in the last 10 years," he added.