Congress urges Lok Sabha Speaker to reinstate Rahul Gandhi at earliest

Rahul, who represents Wayanad, was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP on May 23.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leader Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, K.C. Venugopal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi during a press conference after the Supreme Court stayed Gandhi's conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark, restoring his status as an MP, at AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. Credit: PTI Photo

Congress is hoping that Rahul Gandhi is reinstated as Lok Sabha MP at the earliest so that he can participate in the debate on the no-confidence motion.

All eyes are on Speaker Om Birla, as he has to clear the file on the notification to be issued reinstating Rahul in Lok Sabha. As per procedure, Rahul or his representative will have to submit a copy of the Supreme Court order staying his conviction in a defamation case to initiate the process to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Rahul, who represents Wayanad, was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP on March 23.

With the no-confidence motion being taken up on August 8 and continuing till August 10, Congress expects that Rahul could make a "grand re-entry" into the Parliament. If he is reinstated before August 10, Rahul may be one of the speakers for the party during the debate on the motion.

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge himself raised the issue saying "to disqualify him, everything happened in 24 hours, now let us see in how many hours, he is reinstated." He said the Gujarat court was hundreds of kilometres away but it took just 24 hours to disqualify him and now the Supreme Court is just a few kilometres from Parliament and they wanted to know how fast they would reinstate him.

On Friday, soon after the Supreme Court issued the orders, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met Birla to urge him to restore Rahul's membership at the earliest.

"We have met the Lok Sabha speaker and have urged him to restore Gandhi's membership in Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court has granted him relief. We want Rahul Gandhi to speak on the 'no-confidence motion' against the government in the Lok Sabha. We fear the government may create hurdles and have urged the speaker not to delay the revocation of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification," he said.

Chowdhury also raised the issue in Lok Sabha when Private Member's Bills were being introduced. "Our leader Rahul-ji got relief from the Supreme Court. I demand the Chair to allow him to attend the House at the earliest," he said.

Rajendra Agrawal, who was presiding over the proceedings, said the Speaker would take cognisance of the development and take appropriate action.