New Delhi: A trial court in Surat today held Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of criminal defamation and sentenced him to 2 years in jail. Now as per the Supreme court judgement, Rahul stands disqualified as a member of Parliament.

Senior journalist Kanchan Gupta in a series of tweets opined, “Why Congress MP Rahul Gandhi faces ‘immediate disqualification’ as per landmark Supreme Court judgement of 10 July 2013.”

In Lily Thomas vs Union of India judgement of 10 July 2013, the Supreme Court of India ruled that ‘any MP, MLA or MLC who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of 2 years’ jail, loses membership of the House with immediate effect’.

Supreme Court of India’s 10 July 2013 judgement negates the previous position which allowed convicted MPs, MLAs, and MLCs to retain their seats until they had exhausted all judicial remedies in the lower, state and Supreme Court of India.

Supreme Court of India’s 10 July 2013 judgement had struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives 3 months to appeal their conviction, as ‘unconstitutional’.

Example: Abdullah Azam Khan, SP MLA, was immediately disqualified from Uttar Pradesh Assembly after a trial court convicted him to 2 years in prison in a criminal case.

In a democracy, nobody, absolutely nobody is above the law. All are equal. The law, therefore, equally applies to Rahul Gandhi, added Gupta.

Why Congress MP Rahul Gandhi faces ‘immediate disqualification’ as per landmark Supreme Court judgement of 10 July 2013:
Trial court has held Rahul Gandhi guilty of criminal defamation; sentenced him to 2 years jail. SC has said this should lead to immediate disqualification.
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— Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 (@KanchanGupta) March 23, 2023

Moreover, Supreme Court Lawyer Shashank Shankar Jha has also sought the disqualification of Congress leader from the house, stating that the Supreme Court’s judgment is very clear. If someone is ordered to serve a jail term of two or more years, they lose their membership in parliament/assembly, and getting bail or having an appeal pending before a higher court makes no difference to it.

Supreme Court judgment is very clear.
If someone is ordered for jail term of two or more years, he loses his membership in parliament/assembly.

Getting bail or appeal pending before higher court make no difference to it.

Example: @laluprasadrjd

So @RahulGandhi is disqualified pic.twitter.com/C1ELVjmgYv

— Shashank Shekhar Jha (@shashank_ssj) March 23, 2023

In another tweet, Shashank said that in 2013, after the apex court passed the judgement that no one who is convicted for two or more years of jail can be elected to Parliament and Assembly, the Manmohan Singh government had brought an ordinance to overturn it. Rahul Gandhi, at that time, tore the ordinance publicly. But now, Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to 2 years of jail.

2013:
No one who is convicted for two or more years of jail can be elected to Parliament and Assembly
– Supreme Court

Manmohan Singh govt brought ordinance to overturn it.@RahulGandhi tore the Ordinance publicly.

2023: Rahul Gandhi is ordered 2 years of jail. pic.twitter.com/YRdA2RJ4UV

— Shashank Shekhar Jha (@shashank_ssj) March 23, 2023