Congress leader Rahul Gandhi disqualified from Lok Sabha after conviction in criminal defamation case

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha. According to the notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretariat on Friday evening , Mr Gandhi stands disqualified from Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23rd of March 2023. The notification states that the decision has been taken consequently upon Mr Gandhi’s conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate at Surat in Gujarat.  Rahul Gandhi was elected to Lok Sabha from the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala.

In January this year, Lok Sabha MP from Lakshadweep Mohammad Faizal was disqualified after he was convicted by a sessions court in an attempt to murder case.

Convicted in a 2019 hate-speech case Uttar Pradesh MLA Azam Khan was disqualified from Assembly in 2022.

AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa was disqualified from Assembly in September 2014 after she was sentenced to four years in jail in a disproportionate assets case.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted in a fodder scam and was disqualified from Lok Sabha in 2013.

As per Section 8, (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, an MP or MLA convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced an adverse court verdict and was debarred from holding any elected post for six years following her conviction by the Allahabad High Court in June, 1975. The verdict is widely believed to have led to the imposition of the Emergency.