Days after being disqualified from the Lok Sabha after his conviction in a criminal defamation case, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been asked to vacate his 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi, reported ANI. The news agency quoted a source saying that the Lok Sabha Housing committee has issued a notice to the Gandhi scion asking him to vacate his government-allotted bungalow. According to reports, the Lok Sabha Housing Committee has asked Rahul Gandhi to vacate the bungalow by April 22.
Rahul Gandhi is occupying the bungalow since he was allotted the same after he became a member of Lok Sabha from Amethi in 2004.
Rahul Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail on Thursday (March 23) for his remarks insulting the Modi surname. During an election rally in 2019, Rahul Gandhi alleged that everyone with the Modi surname, including Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi, are thieves. Following this, Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi filed a criminal defamation case against the Congress leader, accusing him of defaming the entire Modi community. The court, however, granted him bail immediately and suspended the sentence for a month.
Notably, the Representation of the People Act, of 1951 specifies the qualifications and the disqualifications of Members of Parliament and state legislatures. Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, contains provisions aimed at decriminalizing electoral politics. According to section 8(3) of this law, any MP or MLA convicted of any offense and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.
In accordance with the law, the Lok Sabha Secretariat disqualified Rahul Gandhi and declared his constituency vacant in response to the Surat court judgment. It was reported that the Election Commission can now call a by-election for the seat. It is now also expected that Gandhi would have to vacate his 12, Tughlaq Lane government bungalow in Delhi.