When Rahul Gandhi 'tore' an ordinance that could have saved him from disqualification as an MP
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from the Lok Sabha. This comes a day after he was convicted in a defamation case by a Surat court. A notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat said he stood disqualified from the House from March 23, the day of his conviction.
Notably, Rahul Gandhi has to now move a higher court and get his conviction stayed.
This came a day after Gandhi was held guilty and sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat court in a 2019 defamation case, over his remarks about the “Modi” surname.
According to a 2013 Supreme Court court, MPs and MLAs convicted in criminal cases with a minimum 2-year jail sentence stand to be disqualified from the House immediately.
However, ten years ago at an event, Rahul Gandhi had torn a copy of the ordinance passed by his own government (UPA), which would have saved him from his current situation.
Interestingly, when the Supreme Court announced the 2013 order on the disqualification of politicians over criminal cases, the UPA government had suggested an ordinance that allowed convicted MPs and MLAs to retain their position in the House for 3 months after their sentence. In that period, they could appeal to higher courts for a stay order on their conviction, and retain their seat in the House.
Speaking about the details, the ordinance was passed after the Supreme Court in 2013 struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, which provided sitting MPs and MLAs an additional layer of protection from disqualification in case s/he is convicted of certain offences.
The provision provided for a period of 3 months within which the convicted sitting MP/MLA cannot be disqualified. Furthermore, if the sitting MP/MLA were to file an appeal or revision within these three months from the date of conviction, s/he could not be disqualified until the appeal or revision was disposed.
The Supreme Court had struck down this provision in its famous judgment in Lily Thomas vs Union of India.
The ordinance was passed by the cabinet and was sent to the President for his assent.
However, Rahul Gandhi strongly opposed to this ordinance and even tore a copy of the ordinance in public at the time. The Opposition including the BJP were also against this ordinance as they alleged that this was a way of protecting convicted legislators. They had accused Congress of attempting to protect its ally Lalu Prasad Yadav who would be disqualified if found guilty in a fodder scam case in which he later was convicted.
Besides, Rahul Gandhi had stated that the ordinance was "complete nonsense" and should be "torn and thrown out". Due to this internal conflict in the views of the Congress, the UPA government had to rescind the ordinance.
But, this decision seems to have turned the odds against Rahul Gandhi 10 years later as now, he stands to lose his Lok Sabha membership over his disqualification.