Rahul Gandhi’s Nomination for Amethi Valid, Says EC Officer Amid Citizenship Row

Amethi (UP): The returning officer (RO) of Amethi on Monday set aside objections on Congress president Rahul Gandhi's nomination papers filed for the seat and held the document valid after scrutinising allegations of discrepancies over citizenship and other issues.

After hearing KC Kaushik, the Congress leader’s counsel, RO Ram Manohar Misra declared Gandhi’s nomination papers for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat as valid.

An Independent candidate and three others had on Saturday raised objections over the Congress president's nomination from the constituency, alleging discrepancies over citizenship and educational qualifications in his election affidavit.

"There is no relevance for rejecting the nomination papers and therefore all the objections are being rejected," Misra said in his order issued Monday.

Complainant Dhruv Lal's lawyer Ravi Prakash had also submitted before the RO purported copies of a certificate of incorporation of a UK-registered company in which the Congress leader is stated to be a British national. He had claimed that the UK company had existed for five years and would have made some profit, but that has not been disclosed in the affidavit.

Taking to media persons, Kaushik, who appeared before the RO Monday morning, said a point-wise reply addressing all objections has been submitted. "We have requested the returning officer that the objections over citizenship have no basis and the issue of citizenship can only be looked into by a competent authority and not the RO," he said.

On objections raised over the Congress president's educational qualification, Kaushik said Gandhi did his M.Phil in 1995 from Cambridge University and a copy of it has been submitted. He had done his graduation in 1994, he added.

Responding to questions on objections with regard to the UK company, Kaushik said, "The said company was closed in 2009...and in Form 26 (details of Tax payment and TDS) of 2019, only the liabilities and assets of five years are mentioned." Prakash had said that he sought a clarification on Gandhi's citizenship as being a UK citizen would bar him from contesting the Lok Sabha elections.